THE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


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Stuart  R.  Scott 
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V 


ANECDOTES, 


ILLUSTRATIVE  OP 


A  SELECT  PASSAGE  IN  EACH  CHAPTER 


OF  THE 

OLD  TESTAMENT. 


BY 

JOHN  WHITECROSS, 

AUTHOR  OF  “  ANECDOTES  ILLUSTRATIVE  OF  THE 
ASSEMBLY’S  SHORTER  CATECHISM,”  &C. 


VOL.  II. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION. 


2  *4- 

w  6'fo 
v,  % 


ANECDOTES, 

ON  THE 


OLD  TESTAMENT. 

— » — 


ry 


JOB. 

Chap.  i.  21,  22. — The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the 
Lord. — In  all  this  Job  sinned  not,  nor  charged 
God  foolishly. 

A  pious  lady,  who  had  lost  a  very  promising  child, 
was  one  day  sitting  with  her  little  daughter  of  about 
three  years  of  age  by  her  side,  and  conversing  with  her 
respecting  the  death  of  her  little  brother.  She  told  her 
that  God  had  taken  him  to  heaven,  and  as  she  spoke 
she  wept.  The  little  girl,  after  a  few  moments  of  pen¬ 
sive  thought,  asked  her  mother,  “  Was  it  proper  for  God 

to  take  H -  to  heaven  1”  To  which  she  replied  in 

the  affirmative.  “Well,  then,”  said  she,  “if  it  was  pro¬ 
per  for  God  to  take  him  away,  what  do  you  cry  for, 
mamma  1” 


ii.  10. — What!  shall  we  receive  good  at  the 

hand  of  God,  and  shall  we  not  receive  evil  1 

The  Oriental  philosopher,  Lokman,  while  a  slave, 
being  presented  by  his  master  with  a  bitter  melon,  im¬ 
mediately  ate  it  all.  “How  was  it  possible,”  said  the 

611717 


4 


JOB  IV. 


master,  “  for  you  to  eat  so  nauseous  a  fruit  ?”  Lokman 
replied,  “  I  have  received  so  many  favours  from  you, 
that  it  is  no  wonder  I  should  once  in  my  life  eat  a  bitter 
melon  from  your  hand.”  The  generous  answer  of  the 
slave  struck  his  master  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  imme¬ 
diately  gave  him  his  liberty.  With  such  sentiments  of 
gratitude,  submission,  and  ready  obedience,  should  men 
receive  sorrows  and  afflictions  from  the  hand  of  God. 

iii.  19. — The  small  and  great  are  there. 

After  Saladin  the  Great  had  subdued  Egypt,  passed 
the  Euphrates,  and  conquered  cities  without  number — 
after  he  had  retaken  Jerusalem,  and  performed  extraor¬ 
dinary  exploits  in  those  wars  which  superstition  had 
stirred  up  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land,  he  finished 
his  life  in  the  performance  of  an  action,  which  ought 
to  be  transmitted  to  the  latest  posterity.  A  moment  be¬ 
fore  he  utteied  his  last  sigh,  he  called  the  herald,  who 
had  carried  his  banners  before  him  in  all  his  battles ; 
he  commanded  him  to  fasten  to  the  top  of  a  lance  the 
shroud  in  which  the  dying  prince  was  soon  to  be  buried. 
“Go,  said  he,  “carry  the  lance,  unfurl  the  banner; 
and,  while  you  lift  up  this  standard,  proclaim — ‘This, 
this  is  all  that  remains  of  all  the  glory  of  Saladin  the 
Great,  the  conqueror  and  king  of  the  empire.”’ 

iv.  10. — The  roaring  of  the  lion,  and  the  voice 
of  the  fierce  lion. 

Rubens,  a  celebrated  artist,  when  painting  a  lion  from 
the  only  living  specimen  he  ever  had  in  his  power  to 
study,  expressed  a  desire  to  see  him  in  the  act  of  roar¬ 
ing.  Anxious  to  please  him,  the  keeper  plucked  a 
whisker  of  the  royal  beast,  and  with  such  success,  that 
he  daily  repeated  the  experiment.  Rubens,  however, 
perceived  such  deadly  wrath  in  the  countenance  of  the' 
animal,  that  he  begged  the  man  to  desist:  the  hint  was 
at  first  regarded,  but  too  soon  neglected.  The  conse¬ 
quence  was  dreadful;  the  enraged  lion  struck  down 
the  keeper,  and  lay  upon  him  the  whole  day:  in  the 
evening  he  was  shot  by  a  body  of  guards;  but  in  the 
agonies  of  death  the  keeper  was  torn  to  pieces. 


JOB  VII. 


5 


v.  17. — Behold,  happy  is  the  man  whom  God 
correcteth ;  therefore  despise  not  thou  the  chas¬ 
tening  of  the  Almighty. 

Dr.  Watts,  from  his  early  infancy  to  his  dying  day, 
scarcely  ever  knew  what  health  was ;  but  however  sur¬ 
prising  it  may  appear,  he  looked  on  the  affliction  as  the 
greatest  blessing  of  his  life.  The  reason  he  assigned 
for  it  was,  that  being  naturally  of  a  warm  temper,  and 
an  ambitious  disposition,  these  visitations  of  Divine 
Providence  weaned  his  affections  from  the  world,  and 
brought  every  passion  into  subjection  to  Christ.  This 
he  often  mentioned  to  his  dear  friend,  Sir  Thomas  Ab¬ 
ney,  in  whose  house  he  lived  many  years. 

vi.  15. — My  brethren  have  dealt  deceitfully  as 
a  brook,  and  as  the  stream  of  brooks  they  pass 
away. 

“To-day,”  says  Mr.  Whitefield  in  the  journal  of  his 
first  voyage  to  Georgia,  “  Colonel  C.  came  to  dine  with 
ns :  and  in  the  midst  of  our  meal,  we  were  entertained 
with  a  most  agreeable  sight.  It  was  a  shark,  about  the 
length  of  a  man,  which  followed  our  ship,  attended  with 
five  smaller  fishes,  called  pilot-fish,  much  like  our 
mackerel,  but  larger.  These,  I  am  told,  always  keep 
the  shark  company;  and,  what  is  most  surprising, 
though  the  shark  is  so  ravenous  a  creature,  yet  let  it 
be  ever  so  hungry,  it  will  not  touch  one  of  them.  Nor 
are  they  less  faithful  to  him ;  for,  as  I  am  informed,  if 
the  shark  is  hooked,  very  often  these  little  creatures 
will  cleave  close  to  his  fins,  and  are  often  taken  up 
with  him. — Go  to  the  pilot-fish,  thou  that  forsakest  a 
friend  in  adversity,  consider  his  ways,  and  be  ashamed  ” 

vii.  1 6. — I  would  not  live  alway. 

Dr.  Dwight’s  mother  lived  to  be  more  than  a  hundred 
years  of  age.  When  she  was  a  hundred  and  two,  some 
people  visited  her  on  a  certain  day,  and  while  they 
were  with  her,  the  bell  was  heard  toll  for  a  funeral. 
The  old  lady  burst  into  tears,  and  said,  “  When  will  the 

1* 


6 


JOB  IX. 


bell  toll  for  me]  It  seems  that  the  bell  will  never  toll 
for  me.  I  am  afraid  that  I  shall  never  die.” 

“  How  gladly  my  spirit  would  part 
From  all  that  around  me  I  see ! 

There  is  but  one  lingering  wish  in  my  heart; — 

’Tis  away  from  the  earth  and  its  sorrows  to  be. 

O  !  when  will  the  bell  toll  for  me  1” 

viii.  7. — Though  thy  beginning  was  small,  yet 
thy  latter  end  should  greatly  increase. 

Lately  died,  aged  68,  Richard  Holt,  Esq.,  banker,  and 
father  of  the  Corporation  of  Grantham.  In  this  gentle¬ 
man  there  is  a  strong  proof  of  the  effect  of  industry  and 
persevering  application  to  business.  In  early  life  he 
commenced  with  a  small  capital  as  a  grocer  and  tallow- 
chandler  on  the  premises  where  he  died :  but  was  rarely 
seen  except  behind  his  counter,  or  in  his  counting- 
house,  where  he  continued  with  unabated  diligence  till 
within  a  week  of  his  death,  leaving,  it  is  generally  be¬ 
lieved,  property  to  the  amount  of  upwards  of  £100,000. 

ix.  23. — If  the  scourge  slay  suddenly,  he  will 
laugh  at  the  trial  of  the  innocent. 

At  a  meeting  of  ministers  in  Leicestershire,  about 
seventy  years  ago,  among  other  subjects,  one  of  them 
proposed  the  above  passage  for  discussion.  Deep  seri¬ 
ousness  pervaded  the  conversation,  while  each  minis¬ 
ter  gave  his  thoughts  upon  the  text.  When  it  came 
to  the  turn  of  a  Mr.  Christian  to  speak,  he  dwelt  upon 
the  subject  with  an  unusual  degree  of  feeling.  He  con¬ 
sidered  it  as  referring  to  the  sudden  death  of  the  right¬ 
eous;  and  was  expiating  very  largely  on  the  desirable¬ 
ness  of  such  an  event,  and  the  happy  surprise  with 
which  it  would  be  attended;  when,  behold,  amidst  a 
flood  of  rapturous  tears,  he  took  his  flight,  while  the 
words  were  still  faultering  on  his  tongue !  The  breth¬ 
ren  did  not  at  first  perceive  that  he  was  dead;  but 
thought  the  strength  of  his  feelings  had  forbid  him  ut¬ 
terance.  At  their  next  social  meeting,  Mr.  Woodman 


JOB  XI. 


7 


preached  on  the  occasion  from  2  Kings  ii.  11.  “And  it 
came  to  pass,  as  they  still  went  on  and  talked,  that,  be¬ 
hold,  there  appeared  a  chariot  of  fire,  and  horses  of  fire, 
and  parted  them  both  asunder;  and  Elijah  went  up  by 
a  whirlwind  into  heaven.” 

x.  15. — If  I  be  righteous,  yet  will  I  not  lift  up 
my  head. 

Some  time  after  Mr.  Newton  had  published  his  Omi- 
cron’s  Letters,  and  described  the  three  stages  of  growth 
in  religion — from  the  blade,  the  ear,  and  the  full  corn 
in  the  ear — distinguishing  them  by  the  letters  A,  B,  and 
C,  a  conceited  young  minister  wrote  to  Mr.  N.,  telling 
him  that  he  read  his  own  character  accurately  drawn 
in  that  of  C ;  Mr.  N.  wrote  in  reply,  that  in  drawing  the 
character  of  C,  or  full  maturity,  he  had  forgotten  to 
add,  till  now,  one  prominent  feature  of  C’s  character, 
namely — that  C  never  knew  his  own  face. 

xi.  10. — If  he  cut  off — or  gather  together,  then 
who  can  hinder  him  1 

To  a  lady,  who  was  bitterly  lamenting  the  death  of 
an  infant  child,  Bishop  Heber  related  the  following 
beautiful  apologue,  as  one  with  which  he  had  himself 
been  affected. — A  shepherd  was  mourning  over  the 
death  of  his  favourite  child,  and  in  the  passionate  and 
rebellious  feeling  of  his  heart,  was  bitterly  complaining, 
that  what  he  loved  most  tenderly,  and  was  in  itself 
most  lovely,  had  been  taken  from  him.  Suddenly,  a 
stranger  of  grave  and  venerable  appearance  stood  be¬ 
fore  him,  and  beckoned  him  forth  into  the  field.  It  was 
night,  and  not  a  word  was  spoken  till  they  arrived  at 
the  fold,  when  the  stranger  thus  addressed  him : 
“  When  you  select  one  of  these  lambs  from  the  flock, 
you  choose  the  best,  and  most  beautiful  among  them : 
why  should  you  murmur,  because  I,  the  good  Shepherd 
of  the  sheep,  have  selected  from  those  which  you  have 
nourished  for  me,  the  one  which  was  most  fitted  for  my 
eternal  fold  1”  The  mysterious  stranger  was  seen  no 
more,  and  the  father’s  heart  was  comforted. 


8 


JOB  XIV. 


xii.  6. — The  tabernacles  of  robbers  prosper, 
and  they  that  provoke  God  are  secure ;  into  whose 
hand  God  bringeth  abundantly. 

Dr.  Arbuthnot,  after  commenting  on  the  great  riches 
and  unparalleled  iniquities  of  the  infamous  Charties, 
concludes:  “0,  indignant  reader!  think  not  his  life 
useless  to  mankind.  Providence  connived  at  his  ex¬ 
ecrable  designs,  to  give  to  after  ages  a  conspicuous 
proof  and  example  of  how  small  estimation  is  exorbi¬ 
tant  wealth  in  the  sight  of  God,  by  his  bestowing  it  on 
the  most  unworthy  of  mortals !” 

xiii.  15. — Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust 
in  him. 

The  late  Rev.  John  Butterworth,  a  minister  of  Eng¬ 
land,  speaking  of  his  religious  experiences,  says,  “  One 
day  as  I  was  reading  in  a  book  called  the  ‘  Marrow  of 
Modern  Divinity,’  a  sentence  from  Luther  was  quoted, 
which  was  this,  ‘  I  would  run  into  the  arms  of  Christ, 
if  he  stood  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand.’  This 
thought  came  bolting  into  my  mind — ‘  so  will  I  too  ;’ — 
and  those  words  of  Job  occurred — ‘  Though  he  slay  me, 
yet  will  I  trust  in  him.’  My  burden  dropped  off;  my 
soul  was  filled  with  joy  and  peace  through  believing  in 
Christ;  a  venturesome  believing,  as  Mr.  Belcher  calls 
it,  was  the  means  of  setting  me  at  liberty ;  nor  have  I 
ever  been  in  such  perplexity,  respecting  my  interest  in 
Christ,  since  that  time ;  though  I  have  had  various 
trials  in  other  respects.” 

xiv.  10. — Man  dieth,  and  wasteth  away;  yea, 
man  giveth  up  the  ghost,  and  where  is  he  1 

One  Lord’s  day,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Button  of  London, 
preached  at  Harlington,  from  the  above  text.  After  a 
variety  of  pertinent  remarks  on  the  mortality  of  man, 
and  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death,  Mr.  B.  suggested 
that  it  was  possible  some  one  or  other  in  the  congrega¬ 
tion  might  be  removed  by  death  that  day ;  and  that  be¬ 
ing  the  case,  it  became  each  one  to  put  the  question  to 


JOB  XVII. 


9 


himself — “  Where  am  I  likely  to  be  1  In  heaven  or  in 
hell  1” — Returning  to  the  afternoon  service,  Mr.  B.  was 
met  at  the  meeting-house  door  by  one  of  the  members 
of  the  church,  who  said,  “  An  affecting  providence,  sir, 
has  just  taken  place  !  The  congregation  is  assembled, 
and  a  man  in  the  gallery  is  now  fallen  down,  apparent¬ 
ly  dead :  he  is  carried  into  the  vestry.”  A  medical 
gentleman  was  immediately  sent  for,  who  said  that  the 
person  had  died  of  an  apoplectic  fit.  The  awakening 
providence  produced  a  deep  solemnity  in  the  congre¬ 
gation.  “  Be  ye  also  ready ;  for  at  such  an  hour  as  ye 
think  not,  the  Son  of  Man  cometh.” 

xv.  4. — Yea,  thou  easiest  off  fear,  and  restrain- 
est  prayer  before  God. 

An  aged  person,  who  had  been  many  years  a  well- 
esteemed  member  of  the  church,  at  length  became  a 
drunkard,  and  was  excommunicated,  and  died  in  awful 
circumstances.  Some  of  his  dying  words  were  these — 
“  I  often  prayed  unto  God  for  a  mercy,  which  he  still 
denied  me.  At  length  I  grew  angry  at  God ;  where¬ 
upon  I  grew  slack  in  my  acquaintance  with  the  Lord: 
ever  since  which  he  hath  dreadfully  forsaken  me ;  and 
I  know  that  now  he  hath  no  mercy  for  me.” 

xvi.  16. — On  my  eyelids  is  the  shadow  of 
death. 

Mr.  George  Moir,  an  eminently  pious  man,  after 
having  been  worn  out  by  a  long  and  painful  illness, 
was  told  by  his  wife,  that  the  change  of  his  counte¬ 
nance  indicated  the  speedy  approach  of  death.  “Does 
it  1”  he  replied;  “bring  me  a  glass.”  On  looking  at 
himself  in  the  glass,  he  was  struck  with  the  appearance 
of  a  corpse  which  he  saw  in  his  countenance ;  but  giv¬ 
ing  the  glass  back,  he  said,  with  calm  satisfaction, 
“  Ah !  death  has  set  his  mark  on  my  body,  but  Christ 
has  set  his  mark  upon  my  soul.” 

xvii.  2. — Are  there  not  mockers  with  me  1 

When  the  late  Rev.  John  Brown  of  Whitburn  was 


10 


JOB  XVIII. 


going  to  London  by  sea,  in  1814,  some  fellow  passen¬ 
gers  of  the  baser  sort,  knowing  or  guessing  his  profes¬ 
sion,  were  resolved  to  play  oif  their  profane  wit  upon 
him ;  with  this  design  they  wrote  him  a  note,  saying, 
that  as  they  presumed  he  was  one  that  was  acquainted 
with,  and  could  apply  the  “balm  of  Gilead,”  they  were 
anxious  he  would  prescribe  for  a  young  woman  who 
was  under  great  distress  of  mind.  Having  read  the 
note,  and  perceiving  at  once  the  spirit  of  it,  he  went 
down  to  the  cabin  from  which  it  had  been  brought  to 
him,  and  holding  it  open  in  his  hand,  said,  “  Gentlemen, 
it  is  of  little  importance  what  insults  you  offer  me  per¬ 
sonally,  but  I  cannot,  and  will  not,  bear  to  see  Him 
whose  I  am,  and  whom  I  serve,  insulted.  Mock  not, 
lest  your  bands  be  made  strong.”  The  effect  of  his 
appearance  and  address  were  such,  that  during  the  rest 
of  the  passage  he  was  treated  with  the  utmost  respect. 


xviii.  3. — Wherefore  are  we  counted  as  beasts, 
and  reputed  vile  in  your  sight  ? 

“The  present  number  in  the  girls’  school,”  says  Mrs. 
Mault,  in  a  letter  from  the  East  Indies,  “  is  fifty-eight ; 
and  some  of  them  are  interesting  children.  About  one- 
third  of  these  girls  are  slaves ;  and  as  the  children  of 
slaves  here  are  always  the  property  of  the  mother’s 
master,  we  have  formed  the  resolution,  that  each  girl, 
by  her  own  industry,  shall  purchase  her  freedom  be¬ 
fore  she  leaves  the  school. — It  will  give  you  some  idea 
in  what  light  slaves  are  viewed  by  the  higher  castes, 
who  are  their  masters,  when  I  mention  one  circum¬ 
stance.  A  girl  in  the  school  had  become  big  enough 
to  work  in  her  master’s  field;  he  therefore  came  to 
make  his  claim  to  her.  I  asked  him  if  it  would  not  be 
well  for  her  to  learn  to  read  1  and  whether  he  should 
not  allow  her  to  do  sol  He  replied,  “It  may  be  well 
for  you  to  instruct  her,  as  you  will  get  a  better  place 
in  heaven  thereby;  but  it  is  enough  for  me  if  my  bull¬ 
ocks  and  slaves  do  the  work  required  in  the  fields !” 
Here  you  see  man,  who  is  immortal,  classed  with  the 
brute  which  perisheth.  And  this  is  not  a  solitary  in¬ 
stance  ;  for  the  lower  classes  in  society  here  are  not 


JOB  XXI. 


11 


allowed  to  enjoy  even  the  same  privileges  as  cows,  and 
some  other  of  the  brute  creation  !” 

xix.  25. — I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth, 
and  that  he  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  the 
earth. 

“I  have  seen,”  says  Mr.  Hervey,  “Dr.  Glyn’s  poem, 
entitled,  ‘The  Day  of  Judgment/  It  is  not  without 
elegance  and  pathos;  but  its  chief  deficiency  is,  that  it 
neglects  to  ascribe  proper  honour  to  Christ.  He  is, 
indeed,  slightly  hinted  at  in  one  chosen  line ;  but  he 
should  have  made  the  most  distinguishing  figure 
throughout  the  whole  piece.  All  judgment  is  com¬ 
mitted  to  him.  It  is  Christ  who  will  come  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven;  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment- 
seat  of  Christ.  This,  to  the  believer,  is  a  most  delight¬ 
ful  consideration — My  Redeemer  is  my  Judge!  He 
who  died  for  me,  passes  the  final  sentence.  Look! 
how  great  is  his  majesty  and  glory,  so  great  is  my 
atonement  and  propitiation.” 

xx.  22. — In  the  fulness  of  his  sufficiency  he 
shall  be  in  straits. 

“I  knew  a  man,”  says  one,  “that  had  wealth  and 
riches,  and  several  houses,  all  beautiful  and  ready 
furnished,  and  who  would  often  trouble  himself  and  his 
family  by  removing  from  one  house  to  another.  Being 
asked  by  a  friend  why  he  removed  so  often,  he  replied, 
it  was  to  find  content  in  some  one  of  them.  ‘  Content/ 
said  his  friend,  ‘  ever  dwells  in  a  meek  and  quiet  soul/  ” 

xxi.  12,  13. — They  take  the  timbrel  and  harp, 
and  rejoice  at  the  sound  of  the  organ. — They 
spend  their  days  in  wealth,  and  in  a  moment  go 
down  to  the  grave. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  G - ,  who  lived  in  the  state  of  New 

York,  had  risen  from  poverty  and  obscurity  to  wealth 
and  distinction.  Their  prosperity  appears,  however, 


12 


JOB  XXII. 


to  have  been  unsanctified,  and  they  were  led  to  indulge 
in  those  amusements  which  tend  to  banish  serious  re¬ 
flection,  and  to  bring  the  whole  soul  under  the  debasing 
influence  of  this  world.  One  evening,  memorable  in 
the  annals  of  amusements  in  the  place  where  they 

lived,  Mrs.  G - was  present.  All  was  hilarity  and 

mirth  around  her;  but  from  some  cause,  Mrs.  G - 

had  not  her  accustomed  flow  of  spirits.  She  had  been 
slightly  indisposed,  but  was  now  apparently  well.  She 
did  not,  however,  fully  participate  in  the  general  mirth 
that  surrounded  her.  A  gentleman  present,  who  was 
an  intimate  acquaintance,  attempted  to  rally  her: 

“Why,  Mrs.  G - ,  you  seem  rather  sober;  are  you 

becoming  serious,  or  are  you  growing  old!”  “I  am 

not  very  serious,”  replied  Mrs.  G - ,  “  and  not  so  old 

but  that  I  can  dance,  and  if  you  doubt  it,  I  will  dance 
with  you.”  The  offer  was  joyfully  accepted.  “Give 
place,  ladies,”  said  the  gentleman,  as  he  led  her  into 

the  forming  circle,  “  Mrs.  G - is  going  to  join  with 

us.”  New  joy  animated  all  countenances;  the  music 
gave  forth  its  thrilling  strains.  ‘  On  with  the  dance  !’ 
seemed  the  impulse  of  every  heart.  The  dance  went 

on ;  Mrs.  G - moved  a  few  steps,  and  sunk  down  a 

lifeless  corpse ! 

xxii.  7. — Thou  hast  not  given  water  to  the 
weary  to  drink,  and  thou  hast  withholden  bread 
from  the  hungry. 

An  Indian,  who  had  not  met  with  his  usual  success 
in  hunting,  wandered  down  to  a  plantation,  among  the 
back  settlements  of  Virginia,  and  seeing  a  planter  at 
his  door,  asked  him  for  a  morsel  of  bread,  for  he  was 
very  hungry.  The  planter  bid  him  “Begone,  for  he 
would  give  him  none.”  “  Will  you  give  me  then  a  cup 
of  your  beer!”  said  the  Indian.  “No;  you  shall  have 
none  here,”  replied  the  planter.  “  But  I  am  very  faint,” 
said  the  savage ;  “  will  you  give  me  only  a  draught  of 
cold  water!”  “Get  you  gone,  you  Indian  dog,  you 
shall  have  nothing  here,”  said  the  planter.  It  happened 
some  time  after,  that  the  planter  went  on  a  shooting 
party  up  into  the  woods,  where,  intent  upon  his  game, 


JOB  XXIII. 


13 


he  missed  his  company,  and  lost  his  way,  and  night 
coming  on,  he  wandered  through  the  forest,  till  he  es¬ 
pied  an  Indian  wigwam.  He  approached  the  savage’s 
habitation,  and  asked  him  to  show  him  the  way  to  a 
plantation,  on  that  side  of  the  country.  '  “It  is  too  late 
for  you  to  go  there  this  evening,  sir,”  said  the  Indian, 
“  but  if  you  will  accept  of  my  homely  fare,  you  are 
welcome.”  He  then  offered  him  some  venison,  and 
such  other  refreshments  as  his  store  afforded,  and  hav¬ 
ing  laid  some  bear-skins  for  his  bed,  he  desired  that  he 
would  repose  himself  for  the  night,  and  he  would 
awake  him  early  in  the  morning,  and  conduct  him  on 
his  way.  Accordingly,  in  the  morning  they  set  off,  and 
the  Indian  led  him  out  of  the  forest,  and  put  him  on  the 
road  he  was  to  go.  But  just  as  they  were  taking  leave, 
he  stepped  before  the  planter,  and  turning  round,  stared 
full  in  his  face,  and  bid  him  say,  “whether  he  recol¬ 
lected  his  features.”  The  planter  was  now  struck  with 
horror,  when  he  beheld  in  his  kind  protector,  the  In¬ 
dian  whom  he  had  so  harshly  treated.  He  confessed 
that  he  knew  him,  and  was  full  of  excuses  for  his  brutal 
behaviour;  to  which  the  Indian  replied,  “  When  you 
see  a  poor  Indian  fainting  for  a  cup  of  cold  water,  do  n’t 
say  again,  ‘  Get  you  gone,  you  Indian  dog !’  ”  The  In¬ 
dian  then  wished  him  well  on  his  journey,  and  left  him. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  say  which  of  these  had  the  best 
claim  to  the  name  of  Christian. 


xxiii.  12. — I  have  esteemed  the  words  of  his 
mouth  more  than  my  necessary  food. 

“Being  in  company,”  says  one,  “with  a  young  officer 
in  the  East  India  Company’s  service,  lately  arrived,  he 
mentioned  that  one  of  the  seamen  died  on  their  passage 
home,  and  when  that  happens,  it  is  a  custom  among 
shipmates  to  sell  all  their  clothes  by  auction,  and  this 
was  done  to  the  person  alluded  to.  In  his  chest  was  a 
Bible,  which  was  put  up  by  itself  at  sixpence ;  it  pre¬ 
sently  got  up  to  twelve  shillings,  and  the  captain  de¬ 
sired  the  auctioneer  to  knock  it  down,  as  it  was  too 
much  for  it,  he  said.  And  my  informant  added,  he  had 
no  doubt  but  it  would  have  sold  for  a  guinea,  if  they 

2 


14 


JOB  XXVII. 


had  been  let  alone.  He  also  said,  that  a  Bible  was 
considered  a  valuable  acquisition  by  many  of  the  sea¬ 
men  on  board  that  ship  ;  and  that  frequently,  at  leisure 
hours,  one  person  read  the  Scriptures  to^many  of  his 
shipmates,  who  were  all  attention  to  hear.” 

xxv.  4.“ “How  then  can  man  be  justified  with 
God? 

About  the  year  1100,  amidst  the  almost  universal 
darkness  of  popery,  there  was  a  form  of  consolation  to 
the  dying,  said  to  be  written  by  Anselm,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury;  and  in  the  year  1475, printed  in  Germany. 
It  was  in  the  following  words  : — “  Go  to,  then,  as  long 
as  thou  art  in  life, — put  all  thy  confidence  in  the  death 
of  Christ  alone,— confide  in  nothing  else,— commit  thy¬ 
self  wholly  to  it,— mix  thyself  wholly  with  it,—  roll  thy¬ 
self  wholly  on  it;  and  if  the  Lord  God  will  judge  thee, 
say, ‘Lord,  I  put  the  death  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
between  me  and  thy  judgment,  otherwise  I  contend  not 
with  thee  and  if  he  say,  ‘  Thou  art  a  sinner,’  reply, 
4  Put  the  death  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  between  me 
and  my  sins:’ — and  if  he  say,  ‘Thou  hast  deserved 
damnation,’  let  thine  answer  be,  ‘Lord,  I  spread  the 
death  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  between  me  and  my  de¬ 
merits  ;  I  offer  his  merits  for  the  merits  I  should  have 
bad  and  have  not.’  If  he  still  insist  that  he  is  angiy 
at  thee,  reply  again,  ‘Lord,  I  put  the  death ^of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  between  me  and  thine  anger.’” 


xxvi.  14. — The  thunder  of  his  power  who  can 
understand  ? 

“  Were  I  fully  able  to  describe  God,”  says  Epictetus, 
« I  should  be  God  myself,  or  God  must  cease  to  be  what 
he  is.” 

xxvii.  20. — Terrors  take  hold  on  him  as  waters. 

Yolney,  a  French  infidel,  was  on  board  a  vessel  du¬ 
ring  a  violent  storm  at  sea,  when  the  ship  was  in  immi¬ 
nent  danger  of  being  lost;  he  threw  himself  on  the 


JOB  XXIX. 


15 


deck,  crying  in  agony,  “  Oh,  my  God !  my  God !” 
“There  is  a  God,  then,  Monsieur  Volney']”  said  one  of 
the  passengers  to  him.  “  0  yes,”  exclaimed  the  terri¬ 
fied  infidel,  “  there  is,  there  is !  Lord  save  me.”  The 
ship,  however,  got  safely  into  port.  Yolney  was  ex¬ 
tremely  disconcerted  when  his  confession  was  publicly 
related;  but  excused  it  by  saying,  he  was  so  frightened 
by  the  storm  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  said,  and 
immediately  returned  to  his  atheistical  sentiments. 

xxviii.  28. — Unto  man  he  said,  Behold  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom;  and  to  depart  from 
evil  is  understanding. 

Mr.  Hervey,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  gives  the  following 
account  of  his  views  and  feelings,  when  brought  to  the 
gates  of  death  by  a  severe  illness: — “Were  I,”  says 
he,  “  to  enjoy  Hezekiah’s  grant,  and  have  fifteen  years 
added  to  my  life,  I  would  be  much  more  frequent  in  my 
applications  to  a  throne  of  grace.  We  sustain  a  mighty 
loss  by  reading  so  much,  and  praying  so  little.  Were 
I  to  renew  my  studies,  I  would  take  my  leave  of  these 
accomplished  trifles — the  historians,  the  orators,  the 
poets  of  antiquity — and  devote  my  attention  to  the 
Scriptures  of  truth.  I  would  sit  with  much  greater  as¬ 
siduity  at  my  Divine  Master’s  feet,  and  desire  to  know 
nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  This  wis¬ 
dom,  whose  fruits  are  peace  in  life,  consolation  in  death, 
and  everlasting  salvation  after  death — this  I  would  trace, 
this  I  would  seek,  this  I  would  explore,  through  the 
spacious  and  delightful  fields  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes¬ 
tament.” 

xxix.  13. — The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready 
to  perish  came  upon  me. 

A  gentleman  from  the  country,  passing  through  the 
streets  of  the  metropolis,  saw  a  poor  man  who  had  for¬ 
merly  been  employed  by  him  as  a  labourer,  and  his  cir¬ 
cumstances  were  those  of  extreme  poverty  and  distress. 
He  had  come  up  to  London  to  seek  employment,  but, 
failing  to  obtain  it,  was  reduced  to  a  state  of  extreme 


16 


JOB  XXX. 


destitution.  The  gentleman  gave  him  a  shilling,  and 
passed  on,  perhaps  scarcely  recollecting  the  circum¬ 
stance,  till  it  was  recalled  to  his  mind  by  the  man  him¬ 
self,  whom,  about  twelve  months  afterwards,  he  met 
again,  and  whose  decent  clothing  and  cheerful  looks 
indicated  a  favourable  change  in  his  circumstances. 
“Sir,”  said  the  poor  fellow,  “I  am  bound  to  bless  you 
and  pray  for  you  as  long  as  I  live;  that  shilling  you 
gave  me  has  been  the  making  of  me :  bad  enough,  I 
wanted  it  for  food;  but  I  was  resolved  first  to  turn  it 
round :  so  I  went  up  and  down  one  of  the  principal 
streets,  and  collected  as  many  hare-skins  as  it  would 
purchase;  these  I  disposed  of,  and  contented  myself 
with  such  food  as  the  profits  would  afford,  still  reserving 
the  shilling  as  my  stock  in  trade.  By  degrees  I  saved 
a  little  more,  and  to  you,  sir,  I  am  indebted  for  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  it  all.  But  for  your  timely  aid,  I  might  have 
perished.  May  a  blessing  attend  you  as  long  as  you 
live.” 

xxx.  25. — Did  I  not  weep  for  him  that  was  in 
trouble  ?  was  not  my  soul  grieved  for  the  poor  ? 

One  Sabbath  evening,  as  Mr.  Cruden,  the  author  of 
the  Concordance  to  the  Bible,  was  returning  from  a 
place  of  worship,  he  accidentally  fell  in  with  a  man 
whose  appearance  betrayed  anxious  sorrow,  fixed  mel¬ 
ancholy,  and  deep  despair.  This  was  too  interesting 
an  object  to  the  sympathizing  mind  of  Mr.  Cruden,  to 
be  carelessly  neglected,  and  making  up  to  the  man,  he 
tenderly  accosted  him,  and  in  course  of  conversation 
learned  that  the  extreme  poverty  of  his  family,  together 
with  some  other  causes,  had  driven  him  to  the  desperate 
resolution  of  committing  suicide.  With  the  most  af¬ 
fectionate  tenderness,  Mr.  C.  expostulated  with  the  man 
on  the  wickedness  of  his  intention,  counselled  him 
against  the  perpetration  of  the  deed,  administered  such 
friendly  consolations,  and  accompanied  the  whole  with 
present  pecuniary  assistance,  and  promises  of  future 
support,  that  the  poor  man  was  prevented  from  his 
horrid  purpose,  and  returned  home  to  his  family  in  the 
most  cheerful  state  of  mind. 


JOB  XXXIII. 


17 


xxxi.  16. — If  I  have  withheld  the  poor  from 
their  desire,  or  have  caused  the  eyes  of  the  widow 
to  fail. 

When  Sir  Thomas  More  was  Lord  Chancellor,  he 
decreed  a  gentleman  to  pay  a  sum  of  money  to  a  poor 
widow,  whom  he  had  wronged ;  to  whom  the  gentleman 
said,  “Then  I  hope  your  lordship  will  grant  me  a  long 
day  to  pay  it.”  “I  will  grant  your  motion,”  said  the 
chancellor,  “  Monday  next  is  St.  Barnabas’  day,  which 
is  the  longest  day  in  the  year;  pay  it  to  the  widow  that 
day,  or  I  will  commit  you  to  the  Fleet.” 

xxxii.  14. — Job  hath  not  directed  his  words 
against  me ;  neither  will  I  answer  him  with  your 
speeches. 

Mr.  Newton  of  London  was  a  very  candid  and 
friendly  critic,  and  was  often  applied  to  by  young  au¬ 
thors  for  his  opinions  and  remarks,  which  he  would 
give  very  candidly,  and  sometimes  under  the  name  of 
? libblings.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  a  practical 
essay  was  put  into  his  hand  which  he  approved;  but  a 
letter  was  appended,  addressed  to  an  obscure  and  con¬ 
temptible  writer,  who  had  said  very  unwarrantable  and 
absurd  things  on  the  subject,  and  whom  therefore  the 
writer  attacked  with  little  ceremony.  The  following  is 
a  specimen  of  some  of  Mr.  Newton’s  nibblings :  “  Were 

the  affair  mine,  I  would  take  no  notice  of  Mr. - , 

but,  if  I  did,  it  should  be  with  the  hope,  at  least  with 
the  desire,  of  doing  good,  even  to  him.  This  would 
make  me  avoid  every  harsh  epithet.  He  is  not  likely 
to  be  benefitted  by  calling  him  a  fool.  The  Evangelists 
simply  relate  what  is  said  and  done,  and  use  no  bitter¬ 
ness  nor  severity,  even  when  speaking  of  Herod,  Pi¬ 
late,  or  Judas.  I  wish  their  manner  was  more  adopted 
in  controversy.” 

xxxiii.  15,  16. — In  a  dream,  in  a  vision  of  the 

night,  when  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men,  in  slum- 

2  * 


18 


JOB  XXXIV. 


berings  upon  the  bed ;  then  he  openeth  the  ears 
of  men,  and  sealeth  their  instruction. 

“A  poor  man,”  says  the  late  Rev.  Thomas  Scott, 

“  most  dangerously  ill,  of  whose  religious  state  I  enter¬ 
tained  some  hopes,  seemed  to  me  in  the  agonies  of 
death.  I  sat  by  his  bed  for  a  considerable  time,  expect¬ 
ing  to  see  him  expire;  but  at  length  he  awoke  as  from 
sleep,  and  noticed  me.  I  said,  ‘You  are  extremely  ill.’ 
He  replied,  ‘  Yes  ;  but  I  shall  not  die  this  time.’  I  asked 
the  ground  of  this  extraordinary  confidence,  saying, 
that  I  was  persuaded  he  would  not  recover.  To  this 
he  answered,  ‘  I  have  just  dreamed  that  you,  with  a 
very  venerable-looking  person,  came  to  me ;  he  asked 
you  what  you  thought  of  me :  What  kind  of  tree  is  it  1 
Is  there  any  fruit!  You  said,  No,  but  there  are  blos¬ 
soms.  Well,  then,  he  said,  I  will  spare  it  a  little  longer.’ 
All  reliance  upon  such  a  dream  I  should,  in  other  cir¬ 
cumstances,  have  scouted  as  enthusiasm  and  presump¬ 
tion  ;  but  it  so  exactly  met  my  ideas  as  to  the  man’s 
state  of  mind,  which,  however,  I  had  never  communi¬ 
cated  to  him,  and  the  event,  much  beyond  all  expecta¬ 
tion,  so  answered  his  confidence,  by  his  recovery,  that 
I  could  not  but  think  there  was  something  peculiar.  On 
his  recovery,  this  man  for  a  time  went  on  very  well; 
but  afterwards  he  gave  up  all  attention  to  religion,  and 
became  very  wicked;  and,  when  I  reminded  him  of 
what  has  now  been  related,  he  treated  the  whole  with 
indifference,  not  to  say  with  profane  contempt.  But  ^ 
have  since  learned,  from  very  good  authority,  that,  after 
I  left  that  part  of  the  country,  (the  neighbourhood  of 
Olney,)  he  was  again  brought  under  deep  conviction  of 
sin ;  recollected  and  dolefully  bemoaned  his  conduct 
towards  me,  and  with  respect  to  his  dream,  and  became 
a  decidedly  religious  character.” 

xxxiv.  29. — When  he  hideth  his  face,  who 
then  can  behold  him  1  whether  it  be  done  against 
a  nation,  or  against  a  man  only. 

The  late  Rev.  Ebenezer  White,  a  pious  minister  in 
Chester,  was  subject  to  frequent  depression  of  spirits. 


JOB  XXXV. 


19 


In  a  letter  to  bis  mother  some  time  before  his  death,  he 
says, — “  In  addition  to  my  bodily  evils,  I  am  the  subject 
of  great  darkness  and  stupidity  of  mind.  I  can  hardly 
think  on  divine  things,  or  indeed  any  thing,  for  my 
mind  is  as  feeble  as  my  body.  I  have,  however,  sense 
enough  left  to  hear  some  awful  voices  in  this  rod.  God 
seems  to  say,  ‘  Who  sent  thee  into  my  vineyard  1 — What 
hast  thou  to  do  to  declare  my  statutes  1 — Give  an  ac¬ 
count  of  thy  stewardship! — Cast  out  the  unprofitable 
servant! — Let  another  take  his  office!’ — I  have  many 
other  dismal  impressions  ;  and  my  confidence  is  far  too 
weak  to  efface  them.  My  only  hope  is  the  broad  ground 
of  the  gospel  declaration,  as  that, — ‘  Christ  came  to  save 
sinners — His  blood  cleanseth  from  all  sin — He  is  able 
to  save,’  &c.  And  sometimes,  but  very  rarely,  I  have 
a  humble  hope  that  God  intends  to  save  me,  though  it 
be  as  by  fire.” 


xxxv.  11. — Who  teacheth  us  more  than  the 
beasts  of  the  earth,  and  maketh  us  wiser  than  the 
fowls  of  heaven  ? 

Luther  tells  us  of  two  cardinals,  who,  as  they  were 
riding  to  the  council  of  Constance,  saw  a  shepherd  in 
the  field  weeping.  One  of  them  being  affected  with  it, 
rode  up  to  him  to  comfort  him,  and  coming  near  to  him, 
desired  to  know  the  reason  of  his  weeping.  The  shep¬ 
herd  was  unwilling  to  tell  him  at  first,  but  at  last  he 
told  him,  saying,  “Looking  upon  this  toad,  I  considered 
that  I  never  praised  God  as  I  ought,  for  making  me 
such  an  excellent  creature  as  a  man,  comely  and  rea¬ 
sonable.  I  have  not  blessed  him  that  made  me  not 
such  a  deformed  toad  as  this.”  The  cardinal  hearing 
this,  and  considering  that  God  had  done  far  greater 
things  for  him  than  for  this  poor  shepherd,  fell  sense¬ 
less  from  his  mule;  his  servants  lifting  him  up,  and 
bringing  him  to  the  city,  he  recovered  his  senses,  and 
cried  out,  “  0,  St.  Austin !  how  truly  didst  thou  say,  the 
unlearned  rise  and  take  heaven  by  force,  and  we,  with 
all  our  learning,  wallow  in  flesh  and  blood !” 


20 


JOB  XXXVII. 


xxxvi.  5. — Behold,  God  is  mighty,  and  despis- 
eth  not  any. 

The  late  Rev.  Thomas  Charles  of  Bala,  North  Wales, 
in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  remarks : — “You  say  that  you 
are  without  all  sense  and  feeling  in  religion.  I  might 
ask  you  as  the  Lord  did  Jonah, — ‘Doest  thou  well  to 
complain  V  Is  there  not  abundantly  more  cause  to  be 
thankful  1  Think  of  the  Lord’s  goodness,  love,  and 
mercy;  and  this  will  effectually  give  you  both  sense 
and  feeling.  I  often  find  myself  in  the  frame  of  mind 
you  describe.  But  when  so,  if  I  can  but  take  (and  I 
have  been  often  able)  even  an  obscure  view  of  the 
Lord’s  goodness  to  me,  so  unfeeling  a  creature,  then 
my  heart  begins  to  melt,  and  I  recover  in  some  degree 
my  spiritual  senses.  It  was  so  with  me  a  few  days 
ago,  when  the  words  of  Elihu  affected  me  exceedingly: 
— ‘  Behold,  God  is  mighty,  and  despiseth  not  any.’  I 
did  not  know,  previously,  what  to  do  with  myself,  feel¬ 
ing  myself  totally  devoid  of  every  thing  good.  But 
these  words — ‘  despiseth  not  any’ — so  much  affected 
me  that  I  could  not  but  go  to  the  Lord,  notwithstanding 
my  coldness  and  insensibility;  and  I  repeated  the 
words  as  my  apology  for  coming.  ‘Thou  despisest 
not  any,  therefore  I  will  and  must  come  to  thee.’  He 
did  not  frown  upon  me  for  my  boldness,  but  filled  me 
with  good  things.  Think  as  ill  as  you  please  of 
yourself;  but  be  sure  to  think  well  of  God.” 

xxxvii.  6. — He  saith  to  the  snow,  Be  thou  on 
the  earth. 

In  a  work,  called  “Voyages  aux  Alpes,”  which  has 
recently  been  published  in  Paris,  a  curious  account  is 
given  of  an  avalanche  which  occurred  in  Switzerland 
many  years  ago.  During  the  absence  of  a  Swiss  farm¬ 
er,  his  cottage  and  stable  were,  by  the  fall  of  the  ava¬ 
lanche,  enclosed  in  snow ;  his  wife  and  daughter  were 
at  the  time  in  the  stable.  Six  weeks  afterwards,  the 
snow  having  melted  a  little,  an  opening  was  effected, 
and  the  two  females  were  found  alive,  having  been 
supported  by  the  milk  of  the  cow  during  that  long  pe- 


JOB  XL. 


21 


riod.  The  space  left  free  from  the  snow  was  sufficient 
for  air,  and  there  was  a  good  winter’s  stock  of  provi¬ 
sions  for  the  cow  near  the  stable. 

xxxviii.  30. — The  waters  are  hid  as  with  a 
stone,  and  the  face  of  the  deep  is  frozen. 

A  missionary  who  had  brought  over  a  native  from 
India,  was  surprised  one  day  by  her  saying  to  him,“0, 
sir,  what  wicked  men  these  sailors  are !  What  do  you 
think  they  have  been  telling  me  1  They  have  been 
telling  me  that  in  England,  sometimes  the  water  gets 
so  hard  that  men  can  stand  upon  it ;  but  do  you  think 
I  believe  them ;  no  I  don’t!”  The  missionary  replied, 
“  But  I  assure  you  it  is  so,  and  now  you  believe  it,  don’t 
you  1”  “  Yes,”  said  she,  “  I  believe  it,  because  you  say 
so ;  but  how  can  it  be  V’ 

xxxix.  28,  29. — She  dwelleth  and  abideth  on 
the  rock. — From  thence  she  seeketh  the  prey. 

Sir  Robert  Sibbald  relates,  that  a  woman  in  the  Ork¬ 
ney  Islands  having  left  her  child  of  about  one  year  old, 
in  a  field,  while  she  went  to  some  distance,  an  eagle 
passing  by  took  up  the  infant  by  its  clothes,  and  carried 
it  to  her  nest  on  a  neighbouring  rock;  which  being  ob¬ 
served  by  some  fishermen,  they  instantly  pursued  the 
eagle,  attacked  her  nest,  and  brought  back  the  child 
unhurt. 

xl.  4,  5. — Behold,  I  am  vile  ;  what  shall  I  an¬ 
swer  thee  1  I  will  lay  mine  hand  upon  my  mouth. 
— Once  have  I  spoken,  but  I  will  not  answer ; 
yea,  twice,  but  I  will  proceed  no  farther. 

“It  has  been  often  observed,”  says  Dr.  Owen,  in  his 
“  Doctrine  of  Justification,”  “that  the  school-men  them¬ 
selves,  in  their  meditations  and  devotional  writings, 
speak  a  language  quite  different  from  that  which  they 
use  in  their  disputes  and  controversies  ;  and  I  had 
rather  learn  what  men  really  think  on  this  head  from 


22 


JOB  XLII. 


their  prayers  than  from  their  writings.  Nor  do  I  re¬ 
member  that  I  ever  heard  any  good  man,  in  his  prayers, 
use  any  expressions  about  justification,  wherein  any 
thing  of  self-righteousness  was  introduced.  Nor  have 
I  observed  that  any  public  liturgies,  (the  Mass-Book 
excepted,)  guide  men  in  their  prayers  before  God,  to 
plead  any  thing  for  their  acceptance  with  him,  or  as 
the  means  or  condition  thereof, — but  grace,  mercy,  the 
righteousness  and  blood  of  Christ  alone.” 

xli.  25. — When  he  raiseth  up  himself,  the 
mighty  are  afraid. 

“I  have  to  report,”  says  a  Protestant  clergyman  in  the 
county  of  Donegal,  in  Ireland,  “a  most  awful  and  un¬ 
paralleled  event,  which  took  place  in  Inverbay,  on  Satur¬ 
day  last.  Five  men  in  a  yawl  were  in  pursuit  of  a  shoal 
of  sprats,  for  bait,  with  hand-loops,  when  a  whale  in  pur¬ 
suit  of  the  shoal,  with  open  jaws,  came  in  immediate  con¬ 
tact  with  the  yawl.  Feeling  the  yawl,  the  monster  closed 
his  jaws  and  crushed  it  to  pieces,  with  the  exception 
of  the  two  ends,  in  one  of  which  was  a  young  lad,  in 
the  act  of  putting  out  his  loop;  he  was  the  only  one 
out  of  the  five  that  escaped.  One  man  was  found 
crushed,  and  fastened  to  a  piece  of  the  floating  wreck. 
This  sad  accident  took  place  within  seventy  yards  of 
the  deep  shelving  shore  of  Ballysigad ;  a  hundred  boats 
were  at  the  time  fishing  about  a  mile  distant.  A  bunch 
of  hair  from  the  gills  of  the  whale,  fastened  in  a  shiver 
of  the  wreck,  confirmed  the  idea  that  the  boat  was  de¬ 
stroyed  in  the  way  described,  which  those  on  shore, 
and  those  in  the  boats,  agree  in  attesting.” 

xlii.  10. — And  the  Lord  turned  the  captivity 
of  Job,  when  he  prayed  for  his  friends. 

“I  was  lately  informed,”  says  a  missionary,  “by  a 
pious  and  able  minister  in  Somersetshire,  that  on  the 
evening  when  the  first  permanent  impressions  were 
made  on  his  mind,  his  pious  mother  was  detained  at 
home.  But  she  spent  the  time  devoted  to  public  wor¬ 
ship  in  secret  prayer  for  the  salvation  of  her  son ;  and 


PSALM  II. 


23 


so  fervent  did  she  become  in  these  intercessions,  that, 
like  our  Lord  in  Gethsemane,  she  fell  on  her  face,  and 
remained  in  fervent  supplications  till  the  service  had 
nearly  closed.  Her  son,  brought  under  the  deepest  im¬ 
pressions  by  the  sermon  of  his  father,  went  into  a  field 
after  the  service,  and  there  prayed  most  fervently  for 
himself.  When  he  came  home  the  mother  looked  at 
her  son  with  a  manifest  concern,  anxious  to  discover 
whether  her  prayers  had  been  heard,  and  whether  her 
son  had  commenced  the  all-important  inquiry,  ‘What 
shall  I  do  to  be  saved?’  In  a  few  days  the  son  ac¬ 
knowledged  himself  to  be  the  subject  of  impressions  of 
which  none  need  be  ashamed;  impressions  which  lay 
the  foundation  of  all  excellence  of  character  here,  and 
of  all  blessedness  hereafter.” 


♦ 


PSALMS. 

Psalm  i.  1. — Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not 
in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,  nor  standeth  in  the 
way  of  sinners,  nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  the 
scornful. 

“  I  have  considered  it  as  a  great  favour  of  God,”  says 
Dr.  Hopkins  of  America,  “  that  I  was  born  and  ed¬ 
ucated  in  a  religious  family,  and  among  a  people,  in  a 
country  town,  where  a  regard  to  religion  and  morality 
was  common  and  prevalent;  and  the  education  of 
children  and  youth  was  generally  practised  in  such  a 
degree,  that  young  people  were  generally  orderly  in 
their  behaviour,  and  abstained  from  those  open  vices, 
which  were  then  too  common  in  sea-port  and  populous 
places.  I  do  not  recollect  that  I  ever  heard  a  profane 
word  from  the  children  and  youth  with  whom  I  was 
conversant,  while  I  lived  with  my  parents,  which  was 
till  I  was  in  my  fifteenth  year.” 

ii.  9. — Thou  shalt  break  them  with  a  rod  of 


24 


PSALM  IV. 


iron  ;  thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter’s 
vessel. 

Felix,  Earl  of  Wurtemburg,  one  of  the  captains  of 
the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  being  at  supper  at  Augsburg, 
in  company  with  many  who  were  threatening  the  sorest 
punishments  on  the  persons  of  the  pious  Christians  of 
that  day,  swore,  before  them  all,  that  before  he  died,  he 
would  ride  up  to  his  spurs  in  the  blood  of  the  Luther¬ 
ans.  That  Same  night  he  was  choked,  probably  by  the 
bursting  of  a  blood-vessel,  which  filled  his  throat,  and 
at  once  removed  him  from  the  world. 

iii.  3. — Thou,  O  Lord,  art  a  shield  for  me. 

Luther,  when  making  his  way  into  the  presence  of 
Cardinal  Cajetan,  who  had  summoned  him  to  answer 
for  his  heretical  opinions  at  Augsburg,  was  asked  by 
one  of  the  cardinal’s  minions,  where  he  should  find  a 
shelter,  if  his  patron,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  should  de¬ 
sert  him  1  “  Under  the  shield  of  heaven !”  was  the 

reply.  The  silenced  minion  turned  round,  and  went 
his  way. 

iv.  8. — I  will  both  lay  me  down  in  peace,  and 
sleep,  for  thou,  Lord,  only  makest  me  dwell  in 
safety. 

A  gentleman  states,  that  many  years  ago  he  was  pre¬ 
sent  at  the  opening  of  a  dissenting  place  of  worship,  in 
the  town  of  Beaconsfield,  in  England.  After  hearing 
the  late  Mr.  Cook  of  Maidenhead,  and  spending  the  day 
very  agreeably,  he  took  up  his  lodgings  at  the  princi¬ 
pal  inn.  When  he  entered  the  house,  he  found  the  late 
Rev.  Matthew  Wilks  in  the  traveller’s  room.  Before 
supper,  Mr.  Wilks  rang  the  bell,  and  inquired  at  the 
master  of  the  house  if  he  had  a  Bible  1  He  replied 
that  he  had.  Mr.  Wilks  said,  with  much  kindness  of 
manner,  “It  is  always  my  practice  to  return  thanks  to 
God  for  the  mercies  of  the  day,  and  to  entreat  his  pro¬ 
tection  at  night;  and  if  you,  and  your  wife,  and  serv¬ 
ants,  will  come  in,  I  shall  be  glad.”  The  master  of  the 


PSALM  VII. 


25 


house  made  no  objection,  and  his  wife  and  servants, 
and  other  persons  present,  came  in.  Mr.  W.  read  the 
Scriptures,  and  engaged  in  prayer,  in  which  he  mani¬ 
fested  much  spirituality  and  fervour. 

v.  3. — My  voice  shalt  thou  hear  in  the  morning, 
O  Lord ;  in  the  morning  will  I  direct  my  prayer 
unto  thee,  and  will  look  up. 

“In  the  days  of  our  fathers,”  says  Bishop  Burnet, 
“  when  a  person  came  early  to  the  door  of  his  neigh¬ 
bour,  and  desired  to  speak  with  the  master  of  the  house, 
it  was  as  common  a  thing  for  the  servants  to  tell  him 
with  freedom, — ‘  My  master  is  at  prayer/  as  it  is  now 
to  say,  ‘  My  master  is  not  up.’  ” 

vi.  9. — The  Lord  hath  heard  my  supplication ; 
the  Lord  will  receive  my  prayer. 

A  minister  of  the  gospel,  in  the  north  of  England, 
had  a  dissolute  son,  who  was  an  officer.  The  father 
had  long  sought  the  eternal  welfare  of  his  wicked  child, 
but  apparently  in  vain.  On  one  occasion  a  remark 
was  made  to  the  father  on  the  hopelessness  of  his  son’s 
condition.  He  replied  by  expressing  his  confidence, 
that  so  many  prayers  would  not  be  lost.  At  length  the 
father  died.  The  son  was  still  a  profligate.  Some 
time  after  his  father’s  decease,  the  son  was  riding  the 
horse  on  which  his  father  had  been  accustomed  to  tra¬ 
vel  to  preach  the  gospel,  when  a  thought  to  the  follow¬ 
ing  effect  darted  into  his  mind: — “Poor  creature,  you 
used  to  carry  a  saint,  and  now  you  carry  a  devil.” 
The  issue  was,  he  embraced  religion,  and  his  father’s 
prayers  were  answered. 

vii.  4. — I  have  delivered  him  that  without  cause 
is  mine  enemy. 

When  Bruce  the  traveller  was  in  Abyssinia,  one  of 
the  governors,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country, 
sent  him  twelve  horses,  saddled  and  bridled,  desiring 

3 


26 


PSALM  VIII. 


him  to  fix  on  one  for  his  own  use.  The  groom  urged 
Bruce  to  mount  one  of  them,  assuring  him  it  was  a 
most  excellent  animal,  and  very  quiet  and  safe  to  ride. 
It  proved  that  the  horse  was  extremely  vicious,  of  which 
the  man  was  well  aware,  and  apparently  had  selected 
him  with  a  malicious  intention.  The  traveller,  how¬ 
ever,  was  well  skilled  in  horsemanship;  and,  after  a 
severe  contest,  he  successfully  curbed  the  unruly  ani¬ 
mal,  completely  exhausted  him,  and  descended  unhurt. 
The  governor  expressed  the  greatest  surprise  and  con¬ 
cern  at  the  transaction,  and  most  solemnly  protested 
his  entire  innocence  of  any  design  in  it,  adding,  that 
the  groom  was  already  in  irons,  and  before  many  hours 
passed,  would  be  put  to  death.  “  Sir,”  said  the  travell¬ 
er,  “  as  this  man  has  attempted  my  life,  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  country,  it  is  I  that  should  name  his 
punishment.”  “It  is  very  true,”  replied  the  governor; 
“take  him,  and  cut  him  in  a  thousand  pieces,  if  you 
please,  and  give  his  body  to  the  kites.”  “Are  you 
really  sincere  in  what  you  say!”  asked  Bruce,  “and 
will  you  have  no  after  excuses!”  He  swore  solemnly 
that  he  would  not.  “Then,”  said  Bruce,  “I  am  a 
Christian ;  the  way  my  religion  teaches  me  to  punish 
my  enemies,  is,  by  doing  good  for  evil,  and  therefore,  I 
keep  you  to  the  oath  you  have  sworn.  I  desire  you  to 
set  this  man  at  liberty,  and  put  him  in  the  place  he 
held  before ;  for  he  has  not  been  undutiful  to  you.” 
Every  one  present  seemed  pleased  with  these  senti¬ 
ments  ;  one  of  the  attendants  could  not  contain  himself, 
but,  turning  to  the  governor,  said,  “Did  not  I  tell  you 
what  my  brother  thought  about  this  man!  He  was  just 
the  same  all  through  Tigre.”  The  governor,  in  a  low 
voice,  very  justly  replied,  “A  man  that  behaves  as  he 
does,  may  go  through  any  country.” 

viii.  8. — Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  suck¬ 
lings  hast  thou  ordained  strength. 

E.  R.,  a  little  boy  not  more  than  four  years  old,  hav¬ 
ing  been  accustomed,  from  a  very  early  age,  to  bow  at 
the  throne  of  grace,  while  his  parents  engaged  in  do¬ 
mestic  worship,  feels  so  lively  an  interest  in  that  holy 


PSALM  X. 


27 


duty,  that  whenever  he  is  absent  from  the  service,  he 
weeps,  and  discovers  much  concern.  He  has  been 
attached  to  the  exercise  from  his  infancy.  One  morn¬ 
ing,  when  he  was  but  fifteen  months  old,  his  father,  hav¬ 
ing  some  particular  business  pressing  upon  his  atten¬ 
tion,  was  preparing  hastily  to  leave  the  house,  without 
discharging  his  duty  as  the  priest  of  his  household.  As 
soon  as  the  child  perceived  this,  he  ran  to  a  chair,  and 
knelt  down.  His  father  still  proceeding  to  go  out,  he 
rose  up,  ran  after  him,  and  took  hold  of  his  coat  to 
conduct  him  from  the  door  to  the  usual  place  at  which 
he  knelt  while  engaged  in  social  worship.  This  affec¬ 
ting  deportment  of  the  infant,  brought  the  father  to 
tears,  and  compelled  him  to  stay  and  perform  the  duty 
devolving  upon  him. 

ix.  10. — They  that  know  thy  name  will  put 
their  trust  in  thee :  for  thou,  Lord,  hast  not  for¬ 
saken  them  that  seek  thee. 

During  Mr.  Legh  Richmond’s  last  illness,  a  friend 
was  speaking  to  him  of  the  immense  value  and  impor¬ 
tance  of  their  religious  principles,  when  he  raised  him¬ 
self  upright  in  his  chair,  and  with  great  solemnity  of 
manner,  said, — “Brother,  we  are  only  half  awake — we 
are  none  of  us  more  than  half  awake  ! — The  enemy,  as 
our  poor  people  would  say,  has  been  very  busy  with 
me.  I  have  been  in  great  darkness — a  strange  thought 
has  passed  through  my  mind — it  is  all  delusion.  Broth¬ 
er,  brother,  strong  evidences,  nothing  but  strong  eviden¬ 
ces,  will  do  at  such  an  hour  as  this.  I  have  looked 
here  and  looked  there  for  them — all  have  failed  me — 
and  so  I  rest  myself  on  the  sovereign,  free,  and  full 
grace  of  God,  in  the  covenant  by  Christ  Jesus:  and 
there,  brother,  (looking  at  his  friend  with  a  smile  of 
tranquillity  quite  indescribable,)  there  I  have  found 
peace.” 

x.  4. — God  is  not  in  all  his  thoughts. 

A  child,  instructed  in  a  Sabbath  school,  on  being 
asked  by  his  teacher,  if  he  could  mention  a  place 


28 


PSALM  XIII. 


where  God  was  not,  made  the  following  beautiful  and 
unexpected  reply, — “Not  in  the  thoughts  of  the  wicked.” 

xi.  4. — His  eyes  behold,  his  eyelids  try  the 
children  of  men. 

A  man  who  was  in  the  habit  of  going  into  a  neigh¬ 
bour’s  corn-field  to  steal  the  ears,  one  day  took  his  son 
with  him,  a  boy  of  eight  years  of  age.  The  father  told 
him  to  hold  the  bag,  while  he  looked  if  any  one  was 
near  to  see  him.  After  standing  on  the  fence,  and 
peeping  through  all  the  corn  rows,  he  returned  and 
took  the  bag  from  the  child,  and  began  his  guilty  work. 
“  Father,”  said  the  boy,  “  you  forgot  to  look  somewhere 
else.”  The  man  dropt  the  bag  in  a  fright,  and  said, 
“  Which  way,  child'?”  supposing  he  had  seen  some  one. 
“  You  forgot  to  look  up  to  the  sky,  to  see  if  God  was 
noticing  you.”  The  father  felt  this  reproof  of  the  child 
so  much,  that  he  left  the  corn,  returned  home,  and  never 
again  ventured  to  steal;  remembering  the  truth  his 
child  had  taught  him,  that  the  eye  of  God  always  be¬ 
holds  us. 

xii.  2. — With  flattering  lips,  and  with  a  double 
heart,  do  they  speak. 

When  a  flattering  priest  told  the  emperor  Constan¬ 
tine,  that  his  godliness  and  virtues  justly  deserved  to 
have  in  this  life  the  empire  of  the  world,  and  in  the  fu¬ 
ture  life,  to  reign  with  the  Son  of  God ;  the  emperor 
cried, — “  Fie — tie  for  shame  !  let  me  hear  no  more  such 
unseemly  speeches,  but  rather  suppliantly  pray  to  my 
Almighty  Maker,  that  in  this  life,  and  in  the  life  to 
come,  I  may  be  reckoned  worthy  to  be  his  servant.” 

xiii.  3. — Lighten  my  eyes,  lest  I  sleep  the 
sleep  of  death. 

A  little  daughter  of  Charles  I.  died  when  only  four 
years  old.  When  on  her  death-bed,  she  was  desired  by 
one  of  her  servants  to  pray.  She  said  she  could  not 
say  her  long  prayer,  meaning  the  “Our  Father;”  but 


PSALM  XVI. 


29 


that  she  would  try  to  say  her  short  one.  “  Lighten  my 
darkness,  0  Lord  God,  and  let  me  not  sleep  the  sleep 
of  death.”  As  she  said  this,  she  laid  her  little  head  on 
the  pillow,  and  expired. 

xiv.  3. — They  are  all  gone  aside,  they  are  al¬ 
together  become  filthy ;  there  is  none  that  doeth 
good,  no,  not  one. 

An  influential  country  gentleman,  and  patron  of  a 
church,  who,  in  his  way,  showed  great  kindness  to  a 
clergyman,  was  hearing  the  minister  preach  on  a  sub¬ 
sequent  Sabbath.  When  the  patron  had  reached  home 
immediately  after  attending  church,  he  said,  “  Here  is 
gratitude  for  you ;  here  I  and  my  family  have  shown 
this  man  the  greatest  kindness,  and  the  return  he  makes 
when  he  gets  into  the  pulpit,  is  to  tell  us  that  we  are 
great  sinners  unless  we  repent.  He  preaches  that  our 
good  works  go  for  nothing  before  God.  This  sermon 
will  do  very  well  for  a  penitentiary,  a  Newgate ;  but 
before  a  genteel  and  respectable  audience,  to  tell  them 
that  they  are  sinners,  is  the  most  extraordinary  conduct 
that  I  ever  met  with.” 

xv.  3. — He  that  backbiteth  not  with  his  tongue, 
nor  doeth  evil  to  his  neighbour,  nor  taketh  up  a 
reproach  against  his  neighbour. 

“No  man,”  observes  one  of  the  friends  of  the  late  Dr. 
Waugh,  “was  more  careful  to  defend  the  character  of 
his  brethren  in  any  thing  defensible.  On  one  occasion 
a  minister,  then  a  young  man,  having  animadverted,  in 
a  company  where  Dr.  W.  was  present,  on  the  talents 
of  another  minister,  in  a  manner  which  he  thought 
might  leave  an  unfavourable  impression  on  the  minds 
of  persons  present,  he  observed,  lI  have  known 

Mr - many  years,  and  I  never  knew  him  speak 

disrespectfully  of  a  brother  in  my  life.’  ” 

xvtt  3. — To  the  saints  that  are  in  the  earth, 

and  to  the  excellent,  in  whom  is  all  my  delight. 

3* 


30 


PSALM  XVII. 


“  On  Saturday,  about  ten  o’clock,”  say  the  Rev.  T. 
Charles  of  North  Wales,  in  a  letter,  “I  set  out  from 
Bristol.  Just  as  I  came  to  the  outside  of  the  gate  of  the 
city,  I  met  a  dear  friend,  and  one  whom  Jesus  loves.  I 
was  exceedingly  glad  to  see  him ;  for  I  never  expected 
to  see  him  this  side  of  eternity.  He  had  been  in  a  dan¬ 
gerous  decline  for  this  half-year;  but  now,  through 
mercy,  he  is  wonderfully  recovered.  He  has  nothing 
to  depend  on  but  providence ;  and  the  Lord  put  it  into 
the  heart  of  a  rich  merchant  in  the  city  to  support  and 
provide  for  him  amply  during  the  whole  of  his  illness  ; 
so  that,  though  possessing  nothing,  he  had  every  thing 
to  enjoy.  He  turned  his  horse  back,  with  the  intention 
of  accompanying  me  a  mile  or  two.  We  talked;  and 
our  horses  carried  us  one  mile  after  another,  till  we  had 
ridden  fifteen  miles ;  and  both  ourselves  and  our  horses 
wanted  some  refreshment.  His  conversation  was  ex¬ 
ceedingly  savoury,  and  truly  profitable  ;  suited  to  one 
who  had  been,  in  his  own  apprehension  and  that  of  oth¬ 
ers,  on  the  borders  of  heaven.  I  cannot  look  on  our 
meeting,  but  as  a  particular  appointment  and  blessing 
from  providence.  We  stayed  two  hours  together  at  the 
inn,  and  parted  at  last  with  much  regret.  You  would 
have  smiled  to  see  our  eyes  fixed  on  each  other,  till  dis¬ 
tance  obstructed  our  sight.  Communion  of  saints  is  a 
blessing  indeed.  I  would  not,  for  any  thing,  have  it 
expunged  from  our  creed.” 

xvii.  15. — As  for  me,  I  will  behold  thy  face  in 
righteousness.  I  shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake, 
with  thy  likeness. 

A  young  man  who  died  some  years  ago,  when  feeling 
the  approach  of  death,  is  said  to  have  uttered  these 
rapturous  words — “I  find  nowit  is  no  delusion!  My 
hopes  are  well  founded!  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to 
conceive  the  glory  I  shall  shortly  partake  of!  Read 
your  Bible !  I  shall  read  mine  no  more ! — no  more 
need  it!  Can  this  be  dying  1  This  body  seems  no 
longer  to  belong  to  the  soul !  It  appears  only  as  a  cur¬ 
tain  that  covers  it ;  and  soon  I  shall  drop  this  curtain. 


PSALM  XIX. 


31 


and  be  set  at  liberty !  I  rejoice  to  feel  these  bones  give 
way,  as  it  tells  me,  I  shall  shortly  be  with  my  God  in 
glory !” 

xviii.  29. — By  thee  I  have  run  through  a  troop ; 
and  by  my  God  have  I  leaped  over  a  wall. 

During  the  rebellion  of  1745,  Colonel  Gardiner  ac¬ 
companied  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  of  Stirling  to  a 
meeting  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  town ;  and  when  en¬ 
deavouring  to  inspire  the  company  with  the  same  ardour 
of  patriotic  heroism  which  glowed  in  his  own  bosom, 
he  proceeded  to  state  the  deficiencies  of  the  enemy’s 
force  in  arms,  in  numbers,  and  in  military  talents  ;  and 
affirmed  that,  were  he  at  the  head  of  a  certain  regiment 
which  he  once  had  the  honour  to  command,  he  would 
not  be  afraid  to  encounter  their  whole  army.  Mr. 
Erskine  standing  by  him,  and  marking  his  expressions, 
tapped  him  gently  on  the  shoulder,  and  thus  whispered 
in  his  ear,  “  Colonel,  say,  under  God.”  That  great  man, 
whose  piety  was  equal  to  his  courage,  replied,  smiling, 
“  0  yes,  Mr.  Erskine,  I  mean  that,  and  having  God  for 
our  general,  we  must  be  conquerors.” 

xix.  10. — More  to  be  desired  are  they  than 
gold,  yea,  than  much  fine  gold. 

About  the  beginning  of  January  1818,  four  workmen, 
belonging  to  the  Custom-House  in  Paris,  who  had  often 

occasion  to  work  for  Mr.  W - ,  a  member  of  the 

Society  of  Friends,  went  to  receive  their  new-year’s 
gift.  On  seeing  them,  he  informed  them  that  he  had 
provided  for  them  fifteen  francs,  (twelve  shillings  and 
sixpence,)  or,  if  they  preferred  it,  which  he  would 
strongly  recommend,  a  Bible.  “Fifteen  francs,”  said 
he,  “are  of  little  consequence,  you  will  soon  have 
spent  them  ;  but  the  word  of  God  will  remain  with  you, 
and  you  will  always  find  in  it  consolation  and  advice.” 
The  eldest  of  the  four  said<  “  As  for  me  I  should  very 
much  like  the  word  of  God,  but  it  would  be  useless  to 
me,  as  I  cannot  read;  and  if  it  makes  no  difference 
- ”  “  Oh,”  said  Mr.  W - ,  “  if  thou  prefer  the 


32 


PSALM  XX. 


money,  here  it  is.”  The  next  two  also,  on  some  ac¬ 
count  or  other,  preferred  the  francs,  and  Mr.  W - 

then  adressed  the  youngest,  advising  him  to  choose  the 
Bible.  “Since  you  say  it  is  such  an  excellent  book,  I 
would  rather,”  said  the  young  man,  “have  it,  and  will 
read  a  chapter  every  day  to  my  mother.”  “Let  me 

hear  how  thou  canst  read  it,”  said  Mr.  W - ,  and  gave 

him  one  of  the  four  Bibles.  On  opening  it,  he  found  a 
piece  of  gold  worth  forty  francs.  “  Thou  seest,”  said  Mr. 

W - ,  “  the  word  of  God  already  favours  thee.  Go 

home  to  thy  mother.”  He  was  unable  to  express  his 
gratitude.  We  may  judge  how  the  others  looked,  when 
they  found  each  of  the  Bibles  contained  forty  francs. 

xx.  7. — Some  trust  in  chariots,  and  some  in 
horses :  but  we  will  remember  the  name  of  the 
Lord  our  God. 

His  Majesty  George  III.  was  one  day  looking  at  the 
plate  which  had  been  recently  brought  from  Hanover, 
and  observing  one  of  the  articles  with  the  arms  of  the 
Electorate  engraved  upon  it,  he  said  to  the  domestic 
#ho  attended  him,  “  This  belonged  to  King  George  II. ; 
I  know  it  by  the  Latin  inscription,”  which  he  read, 
adding,  “In  English  it  is,  I  trust  in  my  sword.  This,” 
said  he,  “I  always  disliked  ;  for  had  I  nothing  to  trust 
in  but  my  sword,  I  well  know  what  would  be  the 
result;  therefore,  when  I  came  to  the  crown,  I  altered 
it.  My  motto  is — ‘  I  trust  in  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
religion.’  ”  He  then,  with  his  usual  condescension, 
said,  “  Which  of  the  two  inscriptions  do  you  like  best  1” 
The  attendant  replied,  “Your  Majesty’s  is  infinitely 
preferable  to  the  other.”  He  said,  “I  have  ever 
thought  so,  and  ever  shall  think  so:  for  therein  is  my 
trust  and  confidence.”  He  continued,  “  Think  you,  is 
it  possible  for  any  one  to  be  happy  and  comfortable 
within  himself,  who  has  not  that  trust  and  confidence! 
I  know  there  are  those  who  affect  to  be  at  ease  while 
living  in  a  state  of  infidelity;  but  it  is  all  affectation; 
it  is  only  the  semblance  of  happiness — The  thing  itself 
is  impossible.” 


PSALM  XXII. 


33 


xxi.  11. — They  imagined  a  mischievous  device, 
which  they  are  not  able  to  perform. 

A  savage  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  one  day  meeting 
two  children  wandering  alone  among  the  mountains, 
stopped  them  and  told  the  poor  creatures  that  he  should 
kill,  roast,  and  eat  them.  The  boys  said,  “Do  it,  do  it; 
and  don’t  pretend  that  you  will,  and  then  you  won’t.” 
He  assured  them  that  they  should  find  he  was  not 
frightening  them  with  a  false  pretence,  for  he  would  do 
as  he  said.  Accordingly  he  kindled  a  fire,  and  was 
going — as  the  children,  who  durst  not  attempt  to  run 
away,  said  afterwards — to  kill,  disembowel,  and  bake 
them,  in  the  manner  that  hogs  are  slaughtered  and 
cooked.  Meanwhile  some  girls  coming  suddenly  in 
sight,  and  shrieking  with  alarm,  the  -wretch  fled  into 
the  woods.  He  was,  however,  soon  hunted  out,  taken, 
and  brought  to  justice.  On  his  trial  he  did  not  deny 
his  cannibal  purpose ;  wherefore,  on  the  testimony  of 
the  two  lads,  he  was  convicted  and  condemned  to  be 
hanged  within  a  fortnight.  The  sentence  was  executed, 
and  he  confessed  its  justice. 

xxii.  26. — The  meek  shall  eat  and  be  satisfied. 

The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  having  gone  to  assist 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Grier  of  the  College  Church,  Edinburgh, 
in  administering  the  Lord’s  Supper,  lodged  in  the 
same  house  with  Janet  Paterson,  a  pious  woman,  whom 
he  highly  esteemed,  (being  kindly  entertained,  very 
probably  under  her  own  roof.)  Finding  him  somewhat 
depressed  in  spirit  on  Sabbath  morning,  she  reminded 
him  of  the  promise, — “  The  meek  shall  eat  and  be  satis¬ 
fied,” — adding,  that  these  words  had  frequently  been 
made  sweet  to  her  soul,  on  his  account.  Mr.  Grier 
preached  on  that  text, — “  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and 
my  blood  is  drink  indeed;”  and  the  first  words  he  read 
to  be  sung  after  sermon,  were  the  same  that  Janet  Pa¬ 
terson  had  suggested  for  his  encouragement  in  the 
morning.  This,  he  says,  melted  his  heart,  and  called 
forth  ardent  wishes  that  the  promise  might  be  accom¬ 
plished  to  his  soul. 


34 


PSALM  XXV. 


xxiii.  5. — Thou'  anointest  my  head  with  oil ; 
my  cup  runneth  over. 

“  I  confess,”  says  Captain  Wilson,  “  that,  since  my 
return  from  India,  I  have  been  forcibly  struck  with 
several  things,  which  prove  the  Scriptures  to  be  an 
eastern  book.  For  instance,  the  language  of  one  of  the 
Psalms,  where  David  says,  ‘Thou  anointest  my  head 
with  oil,  my  cup  runneth  over,’  most  likely  alludes  to  a 
custom  which  continues  to  this  day.  I  once  had  this 
ceremony  performed  on  myself,  in  the  house  of  a  rich 
Indian,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  company.  The 
gentleman  of  the  house  poured  upon  my  hands  and 
arms,  a  delightfully  odoriferous  perfume,  put  a  golden 
cup  into  my  hand,  and  poured  wine  into  it,  till  it  ran 
over,  assuring  me,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  was  a  great 
pleasure  to  him  to  receive  me,  and  I  should  find  a  rich 
supply  in  his  house.  I  think  the  inspired  poet  express¬ 
ed  his  sense  of  the  Divine  goodness  by  this  allusion.” 

xxiv.  6. — This  is  the  generation  of  them  that 
seek  him. 

Of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Blackerby,  it  is  said, — “He  was 
much  in  prayer: — much  in  closet  prayer — much  in 
walking  prayer — much  in  conjugal  prayer,  for  he  pray¬ 
ed  daily  with  his  wife  alone — much  in  family  prayer, 
daily  with  his  own  family — and  almost  daily  with  some 
other  family.  He  used  to  ride  about,  from  family  to 
family,  and  only  alight  and  pray  with  them,  and  give 
them  some  heavenly  exhortation,  and  then  went  away 
to  some  other  family.  Also,  he  was  very  much  in 
fasting  and  prayer.” 

xxv.  15. — Mine  eves  are  ever  toward  the  Lord. 

Right  use  ox  the  exes. — An  old  author  says,  “We 
ought  not  to  look  for  that  in  the  law,  which  can  only 
be  found  in  the  gospel, — not  to  look  for  that  in  ourselves, 
■which  can  only  be  found  in  Christ, — not  to  look  for 
that  in  the  creature,  which  can  only  be  found  in  the 


PSALM  XXVII. 


35 


Creator, — not  to  look  for  that  on  earth,  which  can  only 
he  found  in  heaven.*’ 

xxvi.  8. — Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of 
thy  house,  and  the  place  where  thine  honour 
dwelleth. 

Mr.  W.  Sparshalt,  many  years  an  officer  in  his  Ma¬ 
jesty’s  navy,  was  so  remarkable  for  his  attachment  to 
the  house  and  ordinances  of  God,  that  he  was  never 
known  to  absent  himself  from  his  own  place  of  worship 
except  once,  during  his  whole  religious  career;  and 
though  at  times  he  was  so  afflicted  with  deafness  that 
he  could  not  hear  a  word,  he  nevertheless  continued  to 
fill  his  place  in  the  sanctuary.  He  said  that  he  felt  it 
his  duty  thus  to  honour  divine  institutions,  and  that  he 
felt  an  advantage  in  it.  In  this  case  he  was  accustom¬ 
ed  to  read  and  meditate  on  the  hymns  sung,  and  the 
Scriptures  which  were  read:  in  the  time  of  prayer  he 
prayed  for  himself,  and  during  the  sermon,  he  would 
get  a  friend  to  show  the  text,  and  would  employ  his 
mind  in  reflection  on  it.  In  this  way  it  is  probable  that 
he  derived  more  benefit  from  the  means  of  grace,  than 
many  who  are  not  thus  afflicted. 

xxvii.  10. — When  my  father  and  my  mother 
forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me  up. 

The  following  circumstance  occurred  some  years 
ago  at  Warrington,  and  is  related  by  a  gentleman  of 
respectability:  —  “About  three  weeks  ago,  two  little 
boys  decently  clothed,  the  eldest  appearing  about  thir¬ 
teen,  and  the  youngest  eleven,  called  at  the  lodging- 
house  for  vagrants  in  this  town,  for  a  night’s  lodging. 
The  keeper  of  the  house  very  properly  took  them  to  the 
vagrants’  office  to  be  examined,  and  if  fit  objects,  to  be 
relieved.  The  account  they  gave  of  themselves  was 
extremely  affecting.  It  appeared,  that  but  a  few  weeks 
had  elapsed  since  these  poor  little  wanderers  had  re¬ 
sided  with  their  parents  in  London.  The  typhus  fever 
in  one  day  carried  off  both  father  and  mother,  leaving 


36 


PSALM  XXVIII. 


them  orphans  in  a  wide  world,  without  a  home  and 
without  friends.  After  the  death  of  their  parents,  hav¬ 
ing  an  uncle  in  Liverpool,  they  resolved  to  throw  them¬ 
selves  upon  his  protection.  Tired,  therefore,  and  faint, 
they  arrived  in  this  town  on  their  way.  Two  bundles 
contained  their  little  all;  in  the  younger  boy’s  was 
found  a  neatly  covered  and  carefully  preserved  Bible. 
The  keeper  of  the  lodging-house,  addressing  the  little 
boy,  said, — ‘You  have  neither  money  nor  meat;  will 
you  sell  me  this  Bible  1  I  will  give  you  five  shillings 
for  it.’  ‘No/  replied  he,  the.  tears  rolling  down  his 
cheeks,  ‘  I  will  starve  first.’  ‘  Why  do  you  love  the 
Bible  so  much?  He  answered, ‘No  book  has  stood 
my  friend  so  much  as  my  Bible.’  ‘Why,  what  has 
your  Bible  done  for  you  V  He  answered,  ‘  When  I 
was  a  little  boy,  about  seven  years  of  age,  I  became  a 
Sunday  scholar  in  London.  Through  the  kind  atten¬ 
tion  of  my  master,  I  soon  learned  to  read  my  Bible ; 
this  Bible,  young  as  I  was,  showed  me  that  I  was  a 
sinner;  it  also  pointed  me  to  a  Saviour,  and  I  thank 
God  that  I  found  mercy  at  the  hands  of  Christ,  and  I 
am  not  ashamed  to  confess  him  before  the  world.  The 
Bible  has  been  my  support  all  the  way  from  London ; 
hungry  and  weary,  often  have  I  sat  down  by  the  way- 
side  to  read  my  Bible,  and  have  found  refreshment  from 
it.’  He  was  then  asked,  ‘  What  will  you  do  when  you 
get  to  Liverpool,  should  your  uncle  refuse  to  take  you 
in?  He  replied,  ‘My  Bible  tells  me,  When  my  father 
and  my  mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me 
np.’  ” 

xxviii.  3. — Draw  me  not  away  with  the  wicked, 
and  with  the  workers  of  iniquity. 

A  gentleman,  at  breakfast  with  Mr.  Newton,  told  the 
company  of  two  seamen,  under  sentence  of  death  for  the 
mutiny  at  Bantry-bav,  having  been  brought  to  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus.  The  sentence  being  remitted,  they 
were  sent  to  the  hulks  at  Woolwich.  This  gentleman 
providentially  met  with  a  letter  from  one  of  them  to  his 
father,  in  which  he  complained  most  pathetically  of  the 
dreadful  company  with  which  he  was  surrounded. 


PSALM  XXX. 


37 


The  letter,  altogether,  was  a  most  Christian  one,  and 
very  well  expressed.  The  writer  was  afraid  of  relapsing 
into  his  former  profligacy,  if  he  continued  amongst  the 
horrid  company  in  the  hulks.  Upon  hearing  this  re¬ 
lation,  Mr.  Newton  remarked,  “They  would  be  in  a 
more  dangerous  situation,  were  they  placed  amongst  a 
set  of  smooth  reasoners  in  the  higher  circles  of  life : — 
at  present  they  are  kept  on  watch;  in  the  other  case 
they  would  be  off  their  guard,  and  more  likely  to  re¬ 
ceive  damage.” 

xxix.  7. — The  voice  of  the  Lord  breaketh  the 
cedars. 

Some  time  ago,  about  thirty  persons  were  engaged 
in  hay-making  in  Yorkshire.  At  a  time  when  the  rain 
was  pouring  down  in  torrents,  the  lightning  awfully 
vivid,  and  the  thunder  rolling  with  tremendous  crashes 
over  their  heads,  they  were  all  hastening,  with  one  ac¬ 
cord,  to  the  offered  shelter  of  a  beautiful  large  oak  tree ; 
but  by  the  persuasions  of  their  master’s  brother,  who 
happened  to  be  with  them,  and  who  had  heard  of  acci¬ 
dents  frequently  occurring  from  the  attraction  which 
trees  afforded  to  the  lightning,  they  were  induced  to 
forego  their  first  intention,  and  to  take  shelter  under 
some  of  the  hay.  Scarcely  had  they  reached  the  hay, 
when  they  saw  that  tree,  under  which  they  had  been  so 
eager  to  shelter  themselves,  struck  with  the  lightning, 
the  large  trunk  split  from  the  top  to  the  bottom,  and  all 
the  leaves  blasted  and  withered.  How  grateful  should 
these  men  have  been  for  so  merciful  a  preservation 
from  danger  so  imminent! 

xxx.  5. — Weeping  may  endure  for  a  night,  but 
joy  cometh  in  the  morning. 

The  Rev.  James  Hog  of  Carnock,  an  eminent  minis¬ 
ter,  was  long  under  deep  mental  distress.  When  he 
had  lived  in  Holland  for  a  considerable  time,  it  pleased 
God  unexpectedly  to  impart  a  great  measure  of  light  to 
his  mind.  “  0  how  sweet,”  says  he,  “  the  light  was  to 
me,  who  had  been  shut  up  in  a  dark  dungeon!  for 

4 


38 


PSALM  XXXII. 


sometimes  I  could  do  nothing  but  cry, ‘Send  out  thy 
light  and  thy  truth.’  After  I  had  thus  cried,  not  with¬ 
out  some  experience  of  a  gracious  answer,  and  expec¬ 
tation  of  more,  I  quickly  found  my  soul  brought  out  of 
prison,  and  breathing  in  a  free  and  heavenly  air;  alto¬ 
gether  astonished  at  the  amazing  mercy  and  grace  of 
God.” 

xxxi.  23. — The  Lord  preserveth  the  faithful, 
and  plentifully  rewardeth  the  proud  doer. 

When  the  Rev.  Mr.  Galland  was  minister  at  Ilikiston, 
in  Nottinghamshire,  an  ungodly  man  threatened  his 
life,  because  he  supposed  his  preaching  had  contributed 
to  the  fanaticism  of  his  son’s  wife, — a  crime  that  could 
not  be  forgiven.  He  vowed  no  less  a  vengeance  than 
death,  and  sought  an  opportunity  to  execute  it;  but  the 
Lord,  who  defends  his  people,  took  care  of  his  servant, 
and  shielded  his  head  in  the  hour  of  danger.  Having 
heard  that  there  was  a  prayer-meeting  at  his  son’s 
house,  on  the  Sabbath  morning,  he  repaired  thither 
with  the  instrument  of  death ;  having  been  hardened  to 
his  purpose  by  drinking  all  the  preceding  night.  His 
companions  in  wickedness,  however,  endeavoured  to 
dissuade  him  from  his  design,  and  to  wrest  the  knife 
from  his  hand,  with  which  he  meant  to  perform  the 
murderous  deed.  He  repaired  to  the  place,  breathing 
threatening  and  slaughter:  but  he  was  disappointed  of 
his  victim  ;  his  information  respecting  the  meeting  was 
incorrect.  Divine  judgment  overtook  him,  however, — 
for  on  his  return  he  fell  into  a  ditch,  and  was  found 
dead. 

xxxii.  7. — Thou  art  my  hiding-place  :  thou  shalt 
preserve  me  from  trouble ;  thou  shalt  compass  me 
about  with  songs  of  deliverance. 

Cowper  the  poet,  who  was  subject  to  mental  de¬ 
rangement,  once  resolved  to  throw  himself  into  the 
Thames. — For  this  purpose,  he  got  into  a  hackney 
coach,  and  desired  the  man  to  drive  him  to  Blackfriars 


PSALM  XXXIV. 


39 


Bridge.  The  man  drove  all  over  London,  but  could 
not  find  the  place;  this  was  unaccountable,  as  the 
driver  was  well  acquainted  with  London.  “  0  !”  said 
Cowper,  “you  have  driven  me  quite  far  enough,  drive 
me  home  again.”  He  went  into  his  room,  and  com¬ 
posed  that  beautiful  hymn, — 

“  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way, 

His  wonders  to  perform  ;”  &c. 

xxxiii.  15. — He  fashioneth  their  hearts  alike. 

When  Mr.  Occam,  the  Indian  preacher,  was  in  Eng¬ 
land,  he  visited  Mr.  Newton  of  London,  and  they  com¬ 
pared  experiences.  “Mr.  Occam,”  says  Mr.  Newton, 
“  in  describing  to  me  the  state  of  his  heart,  when  he 
was  a  blind  idolater,  gave  me,  in  general,  a  striking 
picture  of  what  my  own  was  in  the  early  part  of  my 
life ;  and  his  subsequent  views  corresponded  with  mine, 
as  face  answers  to  face  in  a  glass,  though  I  dare  say, 
when  he  received  them,  he  had  never  heard  of  Calvin’s 
name.” 

xxxiv.  9. — O  fear  the  Lord,  ye  his  saints ;  for 
there  is  no  want  to  them  that  fear  him. 

A  poor  widow,  left  with  three  small  children,  who 
lived  in  the  adjoining  parish  to  St.  Mary’s,  Leicester, 
and  to  whom  Mr.  Robinson’s  preaching  had  been  use¬ 
ful,  and  who  was  in  the  constant  practice  of  going  to 
his  Tuesday  evening  lecture,  was  one  of  these  evenings 
sitting  spinning  at  her  wheel,  engaged  in  deep  medita¬ 
tion,  her  soul  longing  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord.  While 
thus  engaged,  the  sound  of  St.  Mary’s  bells  caught  the 
ear  of  one  of  her  children,  who  were  playing  in  her 
little  apartment.  The  child  instantly  ran  to  his  mother, 
exclaiming,  “  Mother,  don’t  you  go  to  church  1”  The 
poor  woman  heavily  sighed,  and  said,  “No  my  dear,  if 
I  don’t  stop  at  home  and  spin  this  wool,  you  will  have 
no  supper.”  By  this  time  the  other  two  children  had 
come  to  her  wheel;  and  having  heard  what  had  been 
said,  the  youngest  eagerly  exclaimed,  “O,  mam,  go 


40 


PSALM  XXXV. 


turch;  God  send  us  supper.”  Struck  by  this  remark 
of  her  child,  she  set  aside  her  wheel,  and  went  to  the 
church.  Having  got  wet  in  returning  home,  she  sat 
by  her  little  fire,  drying  her  clothes,  when  a  neighbour 
entered  her  room,  and  said,  “  Betty,  I  owe  you  two¬ 
pence,  and  I  am  come  to  pay  you.”  Betty  answered, 
“  Why,  neighbour,  I  don’t  know  you  owe  me  ought.” 
“  Yes,  but  I  do ;  I  borrowed  twopence  of  you  a  year  and 
a  half  since,  and  it  is  just  come  into  my  mind.”  She 
then  paid  her  the  twopence,  and  bid  her  good-night. 
The  poor  widow  was  filled  with  surprise  and  gratitude, 
and  immediately  sent  one  of  her  children  to  buy  a  cake, 
and  thus  satisfied  the  wants  of  nature. 

xxxv.  13,  14. — But  as  for  me,  when  they  were 
sick,  my  clothing  was  sackcloth  :  1  humbled  my 
soul  with  fasting ;  and  my  prayer  returned  into 
mine  own  bosom. — I  behaved  myself  as  though 
he  had  been  my  friend  or  my  brother. 

The  late  Mr.  Brown  of  Haddington  manifested  a  sin¬ 
gular  readiness  to  forgive  his  enemies.  Notwithstand¬ 
ing  the  abuse  he  received  from  some  ministers,  when 
a  student,  it  was  remarked,  that  he  was  never  heard  to 
speak  evil  of  them,  nor  so  much  as  to  mention  the  af¬ 
fair.  A  dissenting  clergyman,  who  had  used  him  rude¬ 
ly,  being  reduced  to  poverty,  he  sent  him  money,  and 
in  a  way  which  concealed  the  benefactor.  After  the 
clergyman’s  decease,  he  offered  to  take  one  of  his  des¬ 
titute  orphans,  and  bring  him  up  with  his  own  children. 
To  certain  writers  who  reviled  him  from  the  press,  he 
meekly  replied,  “  But  now  that  the  fact  is  committed, 
instead  of  intending  to  resent  the  injury  these  reverend 
brethren  have  done  me,  I  reckon  myself,  on  account 
thereof,  so  much  the  more  effectually  obliged,  by  the 
Christian  law,  to  contribute  my  utmost  endeavours  to¬ 
wards  the  advancement  of  their  welfare,  spiritual  or 
temporal,  and  am  resolved,  through  grace,  to  discharge 
these  obligations,  as  Providence  gives  me  opportunity, 
for  the  same.  Let  them  do  to,  or  with  me,  what  they 
will,  may  their  portion  be  redemption  through  the  blood 


PSALM  XXXVII. 


41 


of  Jesus,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins  according  to  the 
riches  of  his  grace ;  and  call  me  what  they  please,  may 
the  Lord  call  them,  ‘The  holy  people,  the  redeemed  of 
the  Lord ;  sought  out,  a  city  not  forsaken.’  ” 

xxxvi.  8. — They  shall  be  abundantly  satisfied 
with  the  fatness  of  thy  house  :  and  thou  shalt 
make  them  drink  of  the  rivers  of  thy  pleasures. 

A  little  girl  said  to  a  gentleman,  who  was  never 
known  to  enter  the  house  of  God, — “Sir,  why  don’t  you 
go  to  church;  for  I  am  sure,  such  as  you  are, you  need 
food  as  well  as  myselfl”  The  gentleman  answered 
her,  “  Pray,  who  feeds  you,  and  what  kind  of  food  is  it 
that  you  receive  at  church  V'  She  replied,  “  Sir,  it  is 
God  who  feeds  me  there,  and  his  word  is  the  food  I  am 
supplied  with;  and  I  assure  you,  that  though  my  mo¬ 
ther,  being  very  poor,  is  sometimes  scarcely  able  to 
give  me  food  to  eat,  yet,  fed  as  I  am  every  Sunday  with 
the  bread  of  life,  I  never  know  what  the  pains  of  hun¬ 
ger  are.”  The  gentleman,  astonished  at  what  he  heard 
from  the  little  girl,  resolved  from  that  time  to  attend 
the  service  of  the  sanctuary;  and  he  has  adhered  to 
his  determination,  and  now  feels  and  confesses  the 
great  pleasure  and  profit  that  arises  from  a  constant 
attendance  on  the  means  of  grace. 

xxxvii.  8. — Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good : 
so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily  thou 
shalt  be  fed. 

A  good  man,  overwhelmed  with  trouble,  and  unable 
to  extricate  himself,  or  procure  a  friend  in  the  hour  of 
necessity,  came  to  the  resolution,  as  his  last  resource, 
of  leaving  his  native  country.  There  remained  one 
Lord’s  day  more  previous  to  his  departure,  and  from 
an  apprehension  that  it  would  be  the  last  he  should 
ever  spend  in  his  own  land,  it  impressed  him  with 
more  than  usual  solemnity.  When  at  the  house  of 
God,  the  text  which  the  minister  selected  for  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  his  discourse  was  the  preceding, — “Trust  in  the 

4  * 


42 


PSALM  XXXIX. 


Lord,  and  do  good;  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and 
verily  thou  shalt  be  fed.”  On  hearing  these  words,  he 
found  his  attention  particularly  arrested;  nor  did  he 
feel  himself  less  interested  in  the  sermon,  every  sen¬ 
tence  of  which  appeared  peculiarly  applicable  to  his 
circumstances,  and  led  him  to  conclude  the  whole  to 
be  the  voice  of  Providence.  Impressed  with  this  con¬ 
viction,  he  changed  his  purpose,  and  resolved  to  struggle 
against  the  torrent  of  adversity,  and  await  the  pleasure 
of  his  God  concerning  him.  The  appointed  time  to 
favour  him  soon  arrived.  The  Lord  quickly  turned 
his  captivity  like  that  of  Job,  and  caused  his  latter  end 
to  be  more  blessed  than  his  beginning. 

xxxviii.  12. — They  also  that  seek  after  my  life 
lay  snares  for  me. 

While  Mr.  George  Wishart  was  preaching  at  Dun¬ 
dee,  Cardinal  Beaton  employed  a  popish  priest  to  as¬ 
sassinate  him.  One  day  after  the  sermon  was  ended, 
and  the  people  had  departed,  the  priest  stood  waiting 
at  the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  with  a  dagger  in  his  hand, 
under  his  gown.  But  Mr.  Wishart  having  a  sharp 
piercing  eye,  and  seeing  the  priest  as  he  came,  said  to 
him,  “My  friend,  what  would  you  have?”  And  im¬ 
mediately  seizing  the  dagger,  took  it  from  him.  The 
priest,  being  terrified,  fell  down  upon  his  knees,  con¬ 
fessed  his  intenfion,  and  craved  pardon.  A  noise  be¬ 
ing  hereupon  raised,  the  people  said,  “Deliver  the  trai¬ 
tor  to  us,  or  we  will  take  him  by  force ;”  and  they  burst 
in  at  the  gate.  But  Wishart,  taking  the  priest  in  his 
arms,  said, — “Whosoever  hurts  him  shall  hurt  me,  for 
he  hath  done  me  no  mischief,  but  much  good,  by  teach¬ 
ing  me  more  heedfulness  for  the  time  to  come.”  And 
thus  he  appeased  them,  and  saved  the  priest’s  life. 

xxxix.  1. — I  said,  I  will  take  heed  to  my  ways, 
that  I  sin  not  with  my  tongue. 

Dr.  Johnson,  giving  advice  to  an  intimate  friend, 
said, — “  Above  all,  accustom  your  children  constantly 
to  tell  the  truth,  without  varying  in  any  circumstance.” 


PSALM  XLII. 


43 


A  lady  present,  emphatically  exclaimed,  “Nay,  this  is 
too  much ;  for  a  little  variation  in  narrative  must  hap¬ 
pen  a  thousand  times  a  day,  if  one  is  not  perpetually 
watching.”  “  Well,  Madam,”  replied  the  doctor,  “  and 
you  ought  to  be  perpetually  watching.  It  is  more  from 
carelessness  about  truth,  than  from  intentional  lying, 
that  there  is  so  much  falsehood  in  the  world.” 

xl.  9. — I  have  preached  righteousness  in  the 
great  congregation ;  lo,  I  have  not  refrained  my 
lips. 

Dr.  Payson’s  “ruling  passion  was  strong  in  death.” 
His  love  for  preaching  was  as  invincible  as  that  of  the 
™;.ser  for  gold,  who  dies  grasping  his  treasure.  He  di¬ 
rected  a  label  to  be  attached  to  his  breast,  with  the 
words,  “Remember  the  words  which  I  spake  unto  you, 
while  I  was  yet  present  with  you;”  that  they  might  be 
read  by  all  who  came  to  look  at  his  corpse,  and  by 
which  he,  being  dead,  still  spake.  The  same  words,  at 
the  request  of  his  people,  were  engraven  on  the  plate  of 
the  coffin,  and  read  by  thousands  on  the  day  of  his  in¬ 
terment. 

xli.  5. — Mine  enemies  speak  evil  of  me. 

Mr,  Philip  Henry  used  to  remind  those  who  spoke 
evil  of  people  behind  their  backs,  of  that  law, — “Thou 
shalt  not  curse  the  deaf.”  Those  that  are  absent  are 
deaf,  they  cannot  right  themselves,  and  therefore  say  no 
ill  of  them.  A  friend  of  his,  inquiring  of  him  concern-! 
ing  a  matter  which  tended  to  reflect  upon  some  people; 
he  began  to  give  him  an  account  of  the  story,  but  im¬ 
mediately  broke  off,  and  checked  himself  with  these 
words,  “  But  our  rule  is,  to  speak  evil  of  no  man,”  and 
would  proceed  no  farther  in  the  story.  The  week  be¬ 
fore  he  died,  a  person  requested  the  loan  of  a  particular 
book  from  him.  “  Truly,”  said  he,  “  I  would  lend  it  to 
you,  but  that  it  rakes  in  the  faults  of  some,  which  should 
rather  be  covered  with  a  mantle  of  love.” 

xlii.  3. — Where  is  thy  God  1 


44 


PSALM  XLIV. 


During  the  American  war,  a  British  officer,  walking 
out  at  sun-rising,  observed  at  some  distance  an  old  man, 
whom  he  supposed  taking  aim  at  some  game.  When 
come  up  to  him,  the  officer  took  him  by  the  arm,  and 
said,  “  What  are  you  about  1”  The  old  man  made  no 
reply,  but  waved  his  hand  expressive  of  his  desire  for 
him  to  stand  at  a  distance.  This  not  satisfying  the  in¬ 
quirer,  he  repeated  the  question,  when  the  native  again 
waved  his  hand.  At  length,  somewhat  astonished,  the 
officer  said,  “You  old  fool,  what  are  you  about V’  To 
which  he  answered,  “lam  worshipping  the  Great  Spirit.” 
The  question  was  then  asked,  “  Where  is  he  to  be 
found  V ’  To  which  the  old  man  replied,  “  Soldier, 
where  is  he  not  1”  and  with  such  energy  of  expression 
as  made  the  officer  confess  he  should  never  forget  it  to 
his  dying  day. 

xliii.  3. — O  send  out  thy  light  and  thy  truth. 

It  is  recorded  of  one  of  the  Reformers,  that  when  he 
had  acquitted  himself  in  a  public  disputation  with 
great  credit  to  his  Master’s  cause,  a  friend  begged  to 
see  the  notes  which  he  had  been  observed  to  write,  sup¬ 
posing  that  he  had  taken  down  the  arguments  of  his 
opponents,  and  sketched  the  substance  of  his  own  reply. 
Greatly  was  he  surprised  to  find  that  his  notes  consisted 
simply  of  these  ejaculatory  petitions,  “  More  light,  Lord, 
— more  light,  more  light !” 

xliv.  6,  7. — For'  I  will  not  trust  in  my  bow, 
neither  will  my  sword  save  me. — But  thou  hast 
saved  us  from  our  enemies,  and  hast  put  them  to 
shame  that  hated  us. 

During  the  revolutionary  war  of  America,  General 
Washington’s  army  was  reduced  at  one  time  to  great 
straits,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  part  of  the  country 
where  his  army  was  encamped,  were  much  alarmed  at 
the  prospect  of  its  destruction.  One  of  them,  who  left 
his  home  with  an  anxious  heart,  one  day,  as  he  was 
passing  the  edge  of  a  wood  near  the  camp,  heard  the 
sound  of  a  voice.  He  stopped  to  listen,  and  looking 


PSALM  XLVII. 


45 


between  the  trunks  of  the  large  trees,  he  saw  General 
Washington  engaged  in  prayer.  He  passed  quietly  on, 
that  he  might  not  disturb  him,  and  on  returning  home, 
told  his  family,  that  he  was  cheered  with  a  confident 
hope  of  the  success  of  the  Americans,  for  their  leader 
did  not  trust  to  his  own  strength,  but  sought  aid  from 
the  Hearer  of  prayer,  who  promised  in  his  word — “Call 
unto  me,  and  I  will  answer,  and  show  thee  great  and 
mighty  things  which  thou  knowest  not.” 

xlv.  13. — The  King’s  daughter  is  all  glorious 
within :  her  clothing  is  of  wrought  gold. 

One  day,  a  poor  pious  woman  called  upon  two  ele¬ 
gant  young  ladies,  who  received  her  with  Christian  af¬ 
fection,  regardless  of  her  poverty,  and  sat  down  in  the 
drawing-room,  to  converse  with  her  upon  religious 
subjects.  While  thus  employed,  their  brother,  a  gay 
youth,  came  in,  and  appeared  astonished  to  see  his 
sisters  thus  situated  and  employed.  One  of  them  in¬ 
stantly  started  up,  saying, — “  Brother,  do  n’t  be  sur¬ 
prised  ;  this  is  a  King’s  daughter,  though  she  has  not 
yet  got  on  her  fine  clothes.” 

xlvi.  11. — The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us;  the 
God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge. 

The  late  Rev.  John  Wesley,  after  a  long  life  of  great 
labour  and  usefulness,  concluded  his  course  in  peace 
and  holy  triumph.  A  short  time  before  his  departure, 
a  person  coming  into  the  room,  he  strove  to  speak  to 
him,  but  could  not.  Finding  they  could  not  understand 
him,  he  paused  a  little,  and  with  all  the  remaining 
strength  he  had,  cried  out, — “  The  best  of  all  is,  God  is 
with  .us ;”  and  then  lifting  up  his  dying  arm  in  token 
of  victory,  and  raising  his  feeble  voice  with  a  holy 
triumph,  not  to  be  expressed,  he  again  repeated  the 
heart-reviving  words — “The  best  of  all  is,  God  is. with 


xlvii.  6. — Sing  praises  to  God,  sing  praises ; 
sing  praises  unto  our  King,  sing  praises. 


46 


PSALM  XLVIII. 


“Among  others  of  our  edifying  compositions,”  says 
Mr.  Hervey  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Watts,  “I  have  reason  to 
thank  you  for  your  Sacred  Songs,  which  I  have  intro¬ 
duced  into  the  service  of  my  church;  so  that  in  the 
solemnities  of  the  Sabbath,  and  in  a  lecture  on  the 
week-day,  your  muse  lights  up  the  incense  of  our 
praise,  and  furnishes  our  devotions  with  harmony.” 

xlviii.  3,  4,  5. — God  is  known  in  her  palaces  * 
for  a  refuge. — For,  lo,  the  kings  were  assembled, 
they  passed  by  together. — They  saw  it,  and  so 
they  marvelled ;  they  were  troubled,  and  hasted 
away. 

During  the  rebellion  in  Ireland  in  1793,  the  rebels 
had  long  meditated  an  attack  on  the  Moravian  settle¬ 
ment  at  Grace-Hill,  Wexford  county.  At  length  they 
put  their  threat  in  execution,  and  a  large  body  of  them 
marched  to  the  town.  When  they  arrived  there,  they 
saw  no  one  in  the  streets  nor  in  the  houses.  The 
brethren  had  long  expected  this  attack,  but  true  to  their 
Christian  profession,  they  would  not  have  recourse  to 
arms  for  their  defence,  but  assembled  in  their  chapel, 
and  in  solemn  prayer  besought  Him,  in  whom  they 
trusted,  to  be  their  shield  in  the  hour  of  danger.  The 
ruffian  band,  hitherto  breathing  nothing  but  destruction 
and  slaughter,  were  struck  with  astonishment  at  this 
novel  sight.  Where  they  expected  an  armed  hand, 
they  saw  it  clasped  in  prayer — where  they  expected 
weapon  to  weapon,  and  the  body  armed  for  the  fight, 
they  saw  the  bended  knee  and  humble  head  before  the 
throne  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  They  heard  the  prayer 
for  protection — they  heard  the  intended  victims  asking 
mercy  for  their  murderers — they  heard  the  song  of 
praise,  and  the  hymn  of  confidence,  in  the  “  sure  pro¬ 
mise  of  the  Lord.”  They  beheld  in  silence  this  little 
band  of  Christians — they  felt  unable  to  raise  their  hand 
against  them — and,  after  lingering  in  the  streets,  which 
they  filled  for  a  night  and  a  day,  with  one  consent  they 
turned  and  marched  away  from  the  place,  without  hav¬ 
ing  injured  an  individual,  or  purloined  a  single  loaf  of 


PSALM  LI. 


47 


bread.  In  consequence  of  this  signal  mark  of  protec¬ 
tion  from  heaven,  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbouring 
villages  brought  their  goods,  and  asked  for  shelter  in 
Grace-Hill,  which  they  called  the  City  of  Refuge. 

xlix.  5. — Wherefore  should  I  fear  in  the  days 
of  evil,  when  the  iniquity  of  my  heels  shall  com¬ 
pass  me  about  1 

A  friend,  surprised  at  the  serenity  and  cheerfulness 
which  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  possessed  in  the  im¬ 
mediate  view  of  death  and  eternity,  put  the  question, — 
“Sir,  are  you  not  afraid  of  your  sins  1”  “Indeed  no,” 
was  his  answer;  “ever  since  I  knew  Christ,  I  have 
never  thought  highly  of  my  frames  and  duties,  nor  am 
I  slavishly  afraid  of  my  sins.” 

L  20. — Thou  sittest  and  speakest  against  thy 
brother. 

The  late  Rev.  S.  Pearce,  of  Birmingham,  was  a  man 
of  an  excellent  spirit.  It  was  a  rule  with  him  to  dis¬ 
courage  all  evil  speaking;  nor  would  he  approve  of 
just  censure,  unless  some  good  and  necessary  end  was 
to  be  answered  by  it.  Two  of  his  distant  friends  being 
at  his  house  together,  one  of  them,  during  the  tempo¬ 
rary  absence  of  the  other,  suggested  something  to  his 
disadvantage.  He  put  a  stop  to  the  conversation,  by 
observing — “  He  is  here  : — take  him  aside,  and  tell  him 
of  it  by  himself:  you  may  do  him  good.” 

li.  3. — I  acknowledge  my  transgressions  ;  and 
my  sin  is  ever  before  me. 

Sir  John  Brenton,  royal  navy,  brought  home  from 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hopo?  a  clever  little  Hottentot  boy, 
and  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Philip,  states  that  a  change  had 
taken  place  in  the  character  of  the  boy ;  in  proof  of 
which  he  adds, — “  A  clergyman  asked  him  which  char¬ 
acter  in  the  Old  Testament  he  would  rather  have  been, 
if  it  were  left  to  his  choice.  The  boy  replied,  ‘  David’s. 


48 


PSALM  LIII. 


‘  Why  David’s  rather  than  Solomon’s,  whose  reign  was 
so  glorious1?’  ‘Why?  We  have  evidence  of  David’s 
repentance,’  said  the  lad,  ‘  but  I  don’t  find  any  thing  in 
the  Bible,  that  enables  me  to  draw  the  same  satisfactory 
conclusion  concerning  the  repentance  of  Solomon.’  ” 

lii.  5. — God  shall  likewise  destroy  thee  for  ever  ; 
he  shall  take  thee  away,  and  pluck  thee  out  of 
thy  dwelling-place,  and  root  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
the  living. 

Mr.  Rowe,  a  non-conformist  minister,  who  had  been 
ejected  from  Litchet,  was  informed  against  for  preach¬ 
ing  in  a  cottage  among  his  old  parishioners.  He  es¬ 
caped  into  another  county ;  but  many  of  the  hearers 
were  apprehended  and  carried  before  a  justice,  who 
hearing  that  Mr.  Rowe’s  text  had  been,  “  Mortify  your 
members  which  are  upon  the  earth,”  profanely  burles¬ 
qued  the  words,  and  uttered  many  indecencies.  Not 
long  after,  he  was  seized  with  a  mortal  disease,  which 
was  of  such  a  nature,  that  on  his  death-bed  he  declared 
it  was  a  just  judgment  on  him  for  his  profaneness  in 
this  instance.  The  informer  himself  soon  afterwards 
had  the  use  of  one  side  taken  from  him,  and  died  in 
that  state:  and  a  peace  officer,  who  had  assisted  him  in 
disturbing  the  meeting,  was  within  a  few  weeks  killed 
by  his  own  cart,  directly  opposite  to  the  house  where 
the  meeting  was  held. 

liii.  1 . — The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There 
is  no  God. 

The  three  young  men  who  were  executed  in  Edin¬ 
burgh,  in  1812,  immediately  after  committing  the  rob¬ 
beries  for  which  they  suffered,  had  gone  to  Glasgow; 
and  one  evening  they  heard  thje  family  with  whom  they 
lodged,  employed  in  the  worship  of  God.  This  struck 
their  minds  exceedingly,  and  suggested  the  question, — 
Whether  there  is  a  God,  and  a  world  to  come?  After 
some  discussion  they  came  to  this  conclusion, — “  That 
there  is  no  God,  and  no  w'orld  to  come !” — a  conclu- 


PSALM  LV. 


49 


sion,  as  they  themselves  acknowledged,  to  which  they 
came  on  this  sole  ground — and  how  much  of  the  infi¬ 
delity  that  abounds  in  the  world  rests  on  no  better  1 — 
that  they  wished  it  to  be  so. 


liv.  5. — He  shall  reward  evil  unto  mine  enemies. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  Dr.  Whittington,  a  bi¬ 
shop’s  chancellor,  having  condemned  a  pious  woman 
to  the  flames  at  Chipping,  Sodbui'y,  went  to  that  town 
to  witness  the  courageous  manner  in  which  she  set  her 
seal  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  On  his  return  from  that 
affecting  scene,  a  furious  bull  passed  through  the  crowd, 
none  of  whom  suffered  from  him,  gored  the  chancellor, 
and  suddenly  inflicted  death  in  a  most  awful  manner. 


lv.  17. — Evening,  and  morning,  and  at  noon, 
will  I  pray,  and  cry  aloud :  and  he  shall  hear  my 
voice. 

“A  short  time  since,”  says  a  lady,  “I  was  one  even¬ 
ing  with  a  friend,  after  having  dismissed  my  children 
for  the  night,  when  a  servant  came  in  and  whispered 
to  me,  that  my  eldest  boy,  about  six  years  of  age,  was 
crying  very  much,  and  said  he  must  speak  to  me.  As 
it  was  very  unusual  for  me  to  hear  such  an  account  of 
him,  I  was  much  concerned,  and  hastened  to  his  bed¬ 
room,  when  I  found  him  in  the  greatest  distress  and 
agitation.  On  inquiring  the  cause,  he  said,  *  0,  mam¬ 
ma,  nurse  has  put  me  to  bed  without  hearing  me  say 
my  prayers,  and  I  dare  not  go  to  sleep,  without  asking 
God  to  watch  over  me  while  I  sleep.’  As  he  had  been 
some  time  in  bed,  and  was  quite  feverish  from  agita¬ 
tion,  I  feared  his  taking  cold,  and  desired  him  to  kneel 
on  the  bed.  He  gave  me  a  most  expressive  look,  and 
replied,  ‘No,  mamma,  I  must  kneel  on  the  floor;  God 
will  not  listen  to  me  if  I  say  my  prayers  in  bed.’  Such 
views  had  he  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  prayer,  and  of 
the  reverence  due  to  the  Great  Creator. 

5 


50 


PSALM  LVIII. 


lvi.  9. — When  I  cry  unto  thee,  then  shall  mine 
enemies  turn  back. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Bradbury,  having  one  evening 
called  his  servants  to  family  worship,  which  he  regu¬ 
larly  observed,  they  came  up  stairs  without  recollecting 
to  shut  the  area  door,  next  the  street.  Some  fellows 
seeking  to  commit  robbery,  happened  to  observe  the 
door  open,  and  one  of  them  getting  over  the  palisadoes, 
entered  the  house.  Creeping  up  stairs,  he  heard  the 
old  gentleman  praying,  that  God  would  preserve  his 
house  from  thieves.  The  man  was  so  struck  as  to  be 
unable  to  persist  in  his  wicked  design.  He  therefore 
returned  and  told  the  circumstance  to  his  companions, 
who  abused  him  for  his  timidity.  But  the  man  himself 
was  so  affected,  that  soon  after,  he  related  the  event  to 
Mr.  B.  and  became  an  attendant  on  his  ministry. 

Ivii.  1. — In  the  shadow  of  thy  wings  will  I  make 
my  refuge,  until  these  calamities  be  overpast. 

At  one  time,  when  a  pious  minister  of  the  gospel 
was  passing  over  a  hill,  a  lark,  pursued  by  a  hawk, 
took  refuge  in  his  bosom ;  he  kindly  lodged  the  little 
refugee,  till,  having  reached  a  considerable  distance 
from  its  persecutor,  he  gave  it  liberty  to  soar  and  sing 
in  safety.  The  circumstance  suggested  to  his  mind  a 
train  of  happy  thoughts,  which  he  brought  forward  in 
a  discourse  from  Psalm  xxxiv.  22. — “The  Lord  re- 
deemeth  the  soul  of  his  servants;  and  none  of  them 
that  trust  in  him  shall  be  desolate.” 

lviii.  4,  5. — They  are  like  the  deaf  adder  that 
stoppeth  her  ear ;  which  will  not  hearken  to  the 
voice  of  charmers,  charming  never  so  wisely. 

The  preceding  passage  has  been  often  referred  to,  as 
expressing  the  unwillingness  of  sinners  to  receive  di¬ 
vine  truth,  and  to  comply  with  the  call  of  the  gospel. 
The  following  anecdote  exhibits  an  instance  of  this 
kind : — 


PSALM  LIX. 


51 


The  late  Mr.  Friend,  with  some  other  missionaries, 
on  one  occasion  met  a  number  of  heathen,  including 
several  Brahmins,  and  during  the  interview,  they  were 
plainly  and  coarsely  told,  that  they  were  gross  deceiv¬ 
ers,  who  were  about  to  ensnare  the  people.  “Anxious 
that  we  should  not  leave  this  band  of  idolaters,”  adds 
Mr.  Friend,  “without  reading  to  them  some  portion  of 
truth,  I  proposed  that  a  tract  should  be  read.  No 
sooner,  however,  was  that  proposed,  than  an  old  man 
rose  and  said,  ‘  Nay,  excuse  me,  I  must  make  my  salam ; 
this  may  do  for  a  bazaar,  but  it  will  not  do  here ;  we 
are  not  to  betaken  in  your  net;  you  will  not  make 
converts  of  us.’  Probably  superstition,  as  well  as  fear, 
prompted  this  conduct,  for  the  natives  declare,  that 
there  is  a  spell  in  our  books.  True,  the  gospel  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth : 
but,  alas  for  those  who  refuse  to  hear  its  message ! 
These  poor  creatures  were  sad  examples  of  those  whom 
the  god  of  this  world  hath  blinded,  lest  the  light  of  the 
glorious  gospel  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God, 
should  shine  unto  them.” 

lix.  12. — For  the  sin  of  their  mouth,  and  the 
words  of  their  lips,  let  them  even  be  taken  in  their 
pride  ;  and  for  cursing  and  lying  which  they  speak. 

Some  years  ago,  a  person  of  considerable  property 

and  eminence  in  the  city  of  N - ,  who  lived  in  habits 

of  impiety  and  profaneness,  was  seized  by  an  indispo¬ 
sition,  which  induced  him  to  call  a  medical  gentleman; 
but  being  disappointed  for  a  time,  by  his  absence  from 
home,  he  fell  into  a  violent  agitation,  which  was  vented 
in  horrid  imprecations.  As  soon  as  the  medical  gentle¬ 
man  arrived,  he  was  saluted  with  volleys  of  oaths. 
The  violence  of  his  agitation  broke  a  blood-vessel;  so 
that  oaths  and  blood  continued  to  flow  from  his  mouth 
till  he  could  speak  no  longer;  and  in  this  situation  he 
expired.  The  physician  was  much  affected  by  the 
awful  dispensation. — Bishop  Hall  observes,  that  “  sud¬ 
denness  of  death  certainly  argues  anger,  when  it  finds 
us  in  an  act  of  sin.  God  strikes  some,  that  he  may 
warn  all.” 


52 


PSALM  LXI. 


lx.  11,  12. — Give  us  help  from  trouble  ;  for 
vain  is  the  help  of  man. — Through  God  we  shall 
do  valiantly  :  for  he  it  is  that  shall  tread  down  our 
enemies. 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  uttered  the  following  prayer, 
just  before  a  battle,  in  which  he  obtained  a  complete 
victory: — “O  Lord  of  Hosts!  who  canst  see  through 
the  thickest  veil,  and  closest  disguise;  who  viewest  the 
bottom  of  my  heart,  and  the  deepest  designs  of  my  ene¬ 
mies  ;  who  hast  in  thine  hands,  as  well  as  before  thine 
eyes,  all  the  events  which  concern  human  life;  if  thou 
knowest  that  my  reign  will  promote  thy  glory,  and  the 
safety  of  thy  people ;  if  thou  knowest  that  I  have  no 
other  ambition  in  my  soul,  but  to  advance  the  honour 
of  thy  holy  name,  and  the  good  of  this  state;  favour,  0 
great  God  !  the  justice  of  my  arms,  and  reduce  all  the 
rebels  to  acknowledge  him,  whom  thy  sacred  decrees, 
and  the  order  of  a  lawful  succession,  have  made  their 
sovereign :  but  if  thy  good  providence  has  ordered  it 
otherwise,  and  thou  seest  that  I  should  prove  one  of 
those  kings  whom  thou  givest  in  thine  anger,  take  from 
me,  O  merciful  God!  my  life  and  my  crown;  make 
me  this  day  a  sacrifice  to  thy  will ;  let  my  death  end 
the  calamities  of  France,  and  let  my.  blood  be  the  last 
that  is  spilt  in  this  quarrel.” 

lxi.  2. — Lead  me  to  the  Rock  that  is  higher 
then  I. 

A*  few  days  before  the  death  of  a  pious  little  girl,  her 
father  had  be^n  preaching  from  the  above  passage. 
Upon  rejoining  his  afflicted  family,  the  text  was  mention¬ 
ed,  and  an  outline  of  the  sermon  given,  with  which  she 
appeared  powerfully  arrested.  Upon  the  remark  being 
made,  that  Christ  is  constantly  spoken  of  both  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  as  a  Rock,  especially  in  the 
Psalms,  and  how  delightful  it  was  to  the  believer,  that 
when  placed  upon  this  Rock,  the  storms  of  life  or  of 
death  could  not  remove  him,  for  there  he  was  safe,  she 
seemed  to  derive  much  strength  and  comfort  from  what 


PSALM  LXIV. 


53 


had  been  brought  to  her  notice ;  and  in  all  the  subse¬ 
quent  readings  of  the  Psalms,  whenever  the  Rock  was 
spoken  of,  she  stopped  her  mother,  saying,  “Here, 
mamma,  is  the  Rock  again.” 

lxii.  10. — If  riches  increase,  set  not  your  heart 
upon  them. 

Some  years  before  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Fuller,  a  friend  had  taken  him  to  the  bank,  when  one  of  the 
clerks, *to  whom  he  had  occasion  to  speak,  showed  him 
some  ingots  of  gold.  Mr.  Fuller  seemed  to  tarry  as  he 
balanced  one  of  them  in  his  hand,  while  his  companion 
was  in  haste  to  be  gone.  Thoughtfully  eyeing  the  gold, 
he  said,  as  he  laid  it  down,  “  How  much  better  is  it  to 
have  this  in  the  hand  than  in  the  heart !” 

lxiii.  2. — To  see  thy  power  and  thy  glory,  so 
as  I  have  seen  thee  in  the  sanctuary. 

The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine,  on  the  first  Sabbath 
after  his  settlement  at  Stirling,  allowed  the  congrega¬ 
tion  to  continue  singing  considerably  longer  than  usual, 
before  he  rose  to  offer  up  the  first  prayer.  Some  of  his 
elders,  who  had  observed  the  circumstance,  and  appre¬ 
hended  that  it  was  the  consequence  of  indisposition, 
when  they  saw  him  next  day,  made  kind  inquiries  re¬ 
specting  his  health.  He  told  them,  that  his  delaying 
so  long  to  stand  up  was  owing  to  no  bodily  complaint: 
“but  the  days  of  grace  he  had  enjoyed  at  Portmoak 
(where  he  was  formerly  minister)  came  afresh  to  his 
remembrance,  with  these  words,  ‘  I  am  the  God  of  Be¬ 
thel  and  his  mind  was  so  overpowered,  that  he 
scarcely  knew  how  to  rise.” 

lxiv.  7,  8. — God  shall  shoot  at  them  with  an 
arrow  ;  suddenly  shall  they  be  wounded. — So  they 
shall  make  their  own  tongue  to  fall  upon  them¬ 
selves  :  all  that  see  them  shall  flee  away. 

The  striking  fact,  detailed  in  the  following  lines  of 

5  * 


54 


PSALM  LXV. 


poetry,  took  place  in  the  spring  of  1812,  at  a  public- 
house  in  Rochester,  in  the  county  of  Kent: — 

Now  to  my  tale  and  ditty 
I  beg  you’ll  lend  an  ear; 

Two  sailors  in  a  city 

Began  to  curse  and  swear. 

The  one  was  a  brawler,  a  slave  to  his  sin, 

On  mischief  was  bent,  and  in  haste  to  begin 
In  a  tempest  of  wrath  he  swore  he  would  fight, 
Take  vengeance  on  Robert,  and  kill  him  outright. 
Alas  !  how  this  wretch  was  transported  with  rage, 
He  deserved  to  be  ironed  and  put  in  a  cage. 

The  old  man,  the  landlord,  himself  interfered, 

He  raised  his  voice,  and  his  arm  he  upreared: 

“  Suppose,  wicked  rascal,  God  you  should  strike 
dead, 

And  send  you  to  hell  with  his  curse  on  your  head!” 
The  sailor  replied,  with  an  oath  most  severe, 

“  God  cannot  do  that — give  the  tankard  of  beer; 

If  he  can — to  the  regions  of  hell  I  will  sink, 

Before  this  good  liquor  of  your’s  I  shall  drink!” 
The  tankard  he  seized,  with  an  oath  most  pro¬ 
fane, 

But  he  instantly  fell,  as  one  that  was  slain ! 

He  spoke  not  a  word,  nor  a  sigh  did  he  heave, 

The  Judge  would  not  grant  him  one  moment’s 
reprieve. 

The  terror  created,  each  mind  petrified, 

To  think  that  a  man  his  great  Maker  defied ! 

They  gaz’d  on  his  corpse — ah  !  the  spirit  was  fled. 
The  stroke  was  severe — now  the  sinner  was  dead. 

lxv.  5. — By  terrible  things  in  righteousness 

wilt  thou  answer  us,  O  God  of  our  salvation. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Lathrop  of  America,  illustrating  in  a 
sermon  the  sentiment,  that  “God  often  answers  prayer 
in  a  way  we  do  not  expect,”  introduced  the  following 
facts : — “  A  poor  African  negro  was  led,  while  in  his 
own  country,  by  the  consideration  of  the  works  of 
nature,  to  a  conviction  of  the  existence  and  benevolence 


PSALM  LXVII. 


55 


of  a  Supreme  Being.  Impressed  with  this  fact,  he 
used  daily  to  pray  to  this  Great  Being,  that  by  some 
means  or  other  he  might  more  distinctly  know  him. 
About  this  time  he  was  taken,  with  many  others,  and 
sold  for  a  slave.  For  a  while  he  hesitated  as  to  the 
view  he  had  taken  of  God,  and  thought  that  if  there  did 
indeed  exist  a  just  and  good  Being  as  he  had  supposed, 
he  would  not  allow  fraud  and  iniquity  to  prevail  against 
innocence  and  integrity.  But  after  a  while  this  poor 
slave  was  introduced  into  a  pious  family  in  New 
England,  where  he  was  instructed  in  Christianity,  and 
enabled  to  rejoice  in  God  as  his  friend.  He  was  now 
persuaded  of  the  fact,  that  adverse  providences  are 
often  the  means  of  answering  our  prayers,  and  con¬ 
ducting  us  to  the  greatest  happiness. 

Ixvi.  16. — Come  and  hear,  all  ye  that  fear  God, 
and  I  will  declare  what  he  hath  done  for  my  soul. 

“  While  I  was  in  Edinburgh  last,”  says  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Erskine  in  his  diary,  March  13.  1711,  “on 
the  Wednesday  after  the  sacrament,  Jean  Rauvit  came 
to  see  me  in  my  chamber;  and  she  and  I  entered  on 
spiritual  discourse.  She  told  me  that  she  had  been 
made  to  have  a  very  savoury  remembrance  of  me  sev¬ 
eral  times,  about  this  occasion  of  the  sacrament,  both 
before  and  after  it.  She  told  me  what  expressions  of 
the  Lord’s  love  she  has  had,  and  what  nearness  she 
had  been  admitted  to,  at  this  sacrament.  0  what 
wonders  of  free  grace  and  love  has  the  Lord  displayed 
towards  her!  She  is  a  person  of  more  nearness  to  God, 
than  any  that  I  know.  How  much  of  his  image  is  dis¬ 
cernible  in  her !  What  gravity  and  solidity !  Something 
of  Christ  in  almost  every  word  she  speaks,  and  a  sweet 
savour  of  heaven.” 

lxvii.  5,  6. — Let  the  people  praise  thee,  O  God  ; 
let  all  the  people  praise  thee. — Then  shall  the  earth 
yield  her  increase ;  and  God,  even  our  own  God, 
shall  bless  us. 

It  is  said  that  Bishop  Porteus,  four  days  previous  to 


56 


PSALM  LXX. 


his  death,  inquired  of  one  of  his  friends,  how  the  Bible 
Society  was  succeeding  in  some  great  town,  in  which 
it  had  been  proposed;  and  on  being  informed  that  all 
denominations  had  embraced  it  with  ardour,  and  that 
the  Church  had  taken  the  lead,  a  momentary  glow  of 
satisfaction  flushed  his  pallid  cheeks,  he  raised  himself 
on  his  chair,  as  if  youth  had  been  revived,  and  ex¬ 
claimed,  “  Then  you  will  see  glorious  days  !” 

Ixviii.  5. — A  Father  of  the  fatherless,  and  a 
Judge  of  the  widows,  is  God  in  his  holy  habitation. 

When  the  Rev.  William  Wilson  of  Perth  was  on  his 
death-bed,  his  son  Gilbert,  who  was  eleven  years  of  age, 
hearing  of  his  distress,  hurried  home  from  Abernethy, 
where  he  was  attending  school.  But  his  father  was 
gone  when  he  arrived  at  Perth.  As  he  approached  the 
house,  he  observed  some  persons  who  had  been  waiting 
on  his  deceased  parent,  withdrawing ;  and  from  their 
appearance,  could  easily  perceive  what  had  taken  place. 
He  rushed  into  the  room,  where  he  found  his  mother, 
and  the  rest  of  the  children,  in  tears.  “  Mother,”  said 
the  interesting  youth,  grasping  her  hand,  “we  have  a 
new  claim  on  God  to-day.  You,  my  dear  mother,  have 
a  claim  on  him  for  a  husband,  and  my  sisters,  brother, 
and  myself,  have  a  claim  on  him  for  a  father.” 

Ixix.  9. — The  zeal  of  thine  house  hath  eaten 
me  up. 

An  Indian  having  heard  from  a  white  man,  some 
strictures  on  zeal,  replied,  “  I  do  n’t  know  about  having 
too  much  zeal,  but  I  think  it  is  better  the  pot  should  boil 
over,  than  not  boil  at  all.” 

lxx.  5. — I  am  poor  and  needy  ;  make  haste 
unto  me,  O  God  :  thou  art  my  help  and  my  deli¬ 
verer  ;  O  Lord,  make  no  tarrying. 

When  Melancthon  was  entreated  by  his  friends  to  lay 
aside  the  natural  anxiety  and  timidity  of  his  temper,  he 
replied,  “  If  I  had  no  anxieties,  I  should  lose  a  power- 


PSALM  LXXII. 


57 


ful  incentive  to  prayer ;  but  when  the  cares  of  life  im¬ 
pel  to  devotion,  the  best  means  of  consolation,  a  religious 
mind  cannot  do  without  them.  Thus,  trouble  compels 
me  to  prayer,  and  prayer  drives  away  trouble.” 

Ixxi.  18. — Now  also,  when  I  am  old  and  gray¬ 
headed,  O  God,  forsake  me  not. 

Martin  Bucer  was  visited  in  his  last  sickness  by  sev¬ 
eral  learned  men,  and  among  others,  by  Mr.  John  Brad¬ 
ford,  who,  on  taking  leave  of  him  to  go  to’ preach,  told 
him  he  would  remember  him  in  his  prayers ;  on  which 
Bucer,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  said,  “  Cast  me  not  otf,  0 
Lord,  now  in  my  old  age,  when  my  strength  faileth  me.” 
Soon  after,  he  said,  “  He  hath  afflicted  me  sore ;  but  he 
will  never,  never  cast  me  off.”  Being  desired  to  arm 
himself  with  faith,  and  a  stedfast  hope  in  God’s  mer¬ 
cies  against  the  temptations  of  Satan,  he  said,  “I  am 
wholly  Christ’s,  and  the  devil  has  nothing  to  do  with 
me ;  and  God  forbid  that  I  should  not  now  have  expe¬ 
rience  of  the  sweet  consolation  in  Christ.” 

lxxii.  18,  19. — Blessed  be  the  Lord  God,  the 
God  of  Israel,  who  alone  doeth  wondrous  things 
— a.nd  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  his  glory. 

At  a  late  public  meeting,  Dr.  P - related  the 

following  anecdote  of  a  lady  of  distinction,  of  deep 
piety  and  zeal  for  the  cause  of  God,  in  whom  “the 
ruling  passion”  was  remarkably  strong  in  death.  She 
was  just  sinking  into  the  arms  of  death,  when  he 
thought  he  would  repeat  aloud  the  account  of  the  suc¬ 
cess  in  the  South  Sea  Islands.  The  dying  saint  had  for 
some  time  ceased  to  speak  or  to  move ;  she  was  not, 
however,  insensible;  for,  on  hearing  the  intelligence, 
she  was  somewhat  roused,  and  distinctly  articulated, 
“  Now  blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  who  only  doeth 
wondrous  things  ;  and  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with 
his  glory !”  Scarcely  had  she  ceased  to  utter  these 
words,  when  she  commenced  singing  the  Song  of  Moses 
and  the  Lamb  in  heaven. 


53 


PSALM  LXXIV. 


Ixxiii.  22. — So  foolish  was  I,  and  ignorant ;  I 
was  as  a  beast  before  thee. 

The  late  Rev.  John  Brown  being  asked,  when  on  his 
death-bed,  if  he  remembered  of  his  preaching  on  this 
text,  “  So  foolish  was  I,  and  ignorant;  I  was  as  a  beast 
before  thee,”  replied,  “  Yes,  I  remember  it  very  well; 
and  I  remember,  too,  that  when  I  described  the  beast, 
I  drew  the  picture  from  my  own  heart.  But  O,  amaz¬ 
ing  consideration!  ‘Nevertheless  I  am  continually 
with  thee ;  thou  hast  holden  me  by  my  right  hand.’  ” 

lxxiv.  20. — Have  respect  unto  the  covenant ;  for 
the  dark  places  of  the  earth  are  full  of  the  habita¬ 
tions  of  cruelty. 

When  Messrs.  Tyerman  and  Bennett  visited  Matavai, 
one  of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  Mr.  Nott,  one  of  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  there,  assured  them,  that  three-fourths  of  the 
children  were  wont  to  be  murdered  as  soon  as  they 
were  born,  by  one  or  other  of  the  unnatural  parents,  or 
by  some  person  employed  for  that  purpose — wretches 
being  found  who  might  be  called  infant-assassins  by 
trade.  He  mentioned  having  met  a  woman,  soon  after 
the  abolition  of  the  diabolical  practice,  to  whom  he 
said,  “  How  many  children  have  you  1”  “  This  one  in 

my  arms,”  was  her  answer.  “  And  how  many  did  you 
kill]”  She  replied,  “Eight!”  Another  woman,  to 
whom  the  same  questions  were  put,  confessed  that  she 
had  destroyed  seventeen!  Nor  were  these  solitary 
cases.  Sin  was  so  effectually  doing  its  own  work  in 
these  dark  places  of  the  earth,  that,  full  as  they  were 
of  the  habitations  of  cruelty  and  wickedness,  war,  pro¬ 
fligacy,  and  murder,  were  literally  extirminating  a  peo¬ 
ple  unworthy  to  live;  and  soon  would  the  cities  have 
been  wasted  without  inhabitants,  the  houses  without  a 
man,  and  the  land  been  utterly  desolate.  But  the  gos¬ 
pel  stepped  in,  and  the  plague  was  stayed.  Now  the 
mothers  nurse  their  infants  with  the  tenderest  af¬ 
fection. 


PSALM  LXXVII. 


59 


Ixxv.  4. — I  said  unto  the  fools,  Deal  not  fool- 
ishly ;  and  to  the  wicked,  Lift  not  up  the  horn. 

A  minister  of  the  gospel  having  made  several  at¬ 
tempts  to  reform  a  profligate,  was  at  length  repulsed 
with,  “  It  is  all  in  vain,  doctor,  you  cannot  get  me  to 
change  my  religion.”  “I  do  not  want  that,”  replied  the 
good  man;  “I  wish  religion  to  change  you?” 


t 


xxvi.  7. — Thou,  even  thou,  art  to  be  feared,  and 


who  may  stand  in  thy  sight  when  once  thou  art 
angry  ? 

When  Rabbi  Jochanan  Ben  Zachai  was  sick,  his  dis¬ 
ciples  came  to  visit  him ;  and  when  he  saw  them,  he 
began  to  weep.  They  said  to  him,  “  Rabbi,  the  light  of 
Israel,  the  right  hand  pillar,  the  strong  hammer,  where¬ 
fore  dost  thou  weep?”  He  answered,  “If  they  were 
carrying  me  before  a  king  of  flesh  and  blood,  who  is 
here  to-day,  and  to-morrow  in  the  grave,  who,  if  he 
were  angry  with  me,  his  anger  would  not  last  for  ever; 
if  he  put  me  in  prison,  his  prison  would  not  be  ever¬ 
lasting;  if  he  condemned  me  to  death,  that  death  would 
not  be  eternal ;  whom  I  could  soothe  with  words,  or 
bribe  with  riches ;  yet  even  in  such  circumstances  I 
should  weep.  But  now  I  am  going  before  the  King  of 
kings,  the  holy  and  blessed  God,  who  liveth  and  endur- 
eth,  who,  if  he  be  angry  with  me,  his  anger  will  last 
for  ever;  if  he  put  me  in  prison,  his  bondage  will  be 
everlasting;  if  he  condemn  me  to  death,  that  death  will 
be  eternal;  whom  I  cannot  soothe  with  words,  nor 
bribe  with  riches ;  when  farther,  there  are  before  me 
two  ways,  the  one  to  hell,  and  the  other  to  paradise, 
and  I  know  not  into  which  they  are  carrying  me,  shall 
I  not  weep  ?” 


•r 

fa  • 
fa  y 

l 


lxxvii.  2. — My  soul  refused  to  be  comforted. 

Mr.  Baxter,  giving  an  account  of  Mr.  James  Nalton, 
a  holy  minister,  but  subject  to  occasional  depression 
of  spirits,  says,  “  Less  than  a  year  before  his  death,  he 
fell  into  a  grievous  fit  of  melancholy,  in  which  he  was 


60 


PSALM  LXXIX. 


so  confident  of  his  gracelessness,  that  he  usually  cried 
out,  ‘  O,  not  one  spark  of  grace,  not  one  good  desire  or 
thought  1  I  can  no  more  pray  than  a  post.  If  an  angel 
from  heaven  would  tell  me  that  I  have  true  grace,  I 
would  not  believe  him.”  And  yet  at  that  time  did  he 
pray  very  well ;  and  I  could  demonstrate  his  sincerity 
so  much  to  him  in  his  desires  and  life,  that  he  had  not 
a  word  to  say  against  it,  but  yet  was  harping  still  on 
the  same  string,  and  would  hardly  be  persuaded  that  he 
was  melancholy.  It  pleased  God  to  recover  him  from 
this  fit,  and  shortly  after  he  confessed  that  what  I  said 
_  was  true,  that  his  despair  was  all  the  effect  of  melan- 
♦*^choly,  and  rejoiced  much  in  God’s  deliverance.” 

Ixxviii.  4. — We  will  not  hide  them  from  their 
children,  shewing  to  the  generation  to  come  the 


praises  of  the  Lord. 


“It  had  been  my  manner  for  a  long  time,”  says  Mr. 
Boston  in  his  Memoirs,  “  besides  the  catechising  of  the 
parish  every  year,  to  have  days  of  catechising  for  those 
of  the  younger  sort,  and  they  met  in  the  kirk  once  a- 
fortnight,  sometimes  once  a-week,  sometimes  in  my 
house.  I  learnt  it  from  Mr.  Charles  Gordon,  a  grave 
learned  man,  minister  of  Ashkirk.  By  this  course  I 
got  several  young  people  of  both  sexes  trained  up  to  a 
good  measure  of  knowledge ;  some  of  them  to  this  day 
are  solid  and  knowing  Christians,  and  the  whole 
youth  of  the  parish,  who  were  disposed,  and  had  access 
to  wait  on,  came  together,  and  as  occasion  required : 
sometimes  these  meetings  were  closed  with  a  warm 
exhortation  to  practical  religion.” 


Ixxix.  10. — Wherefore  should  the  heathen  say, 
Where  is  their  God  ? 


Mr.  Thoman  Worts  was  ejected,  in  16G2,  from  the 
church  of  Burningham,  Norfolk,  and  was  afterwards 
pastor  of  a  congregation  at  Guestwick,  in  the  same 
county.  He  was  brought  from  Burningham  into  Nor¬ 
wich,  with  a  sort  of  brutal  triumph,  his  legs  being 
chained  under  the  horse’s  belly.  As  he  was  conducted 


PSALM  LXXXI. 


61 


to  the  castle,  a  woman  looking  out  of  a  chamber-win¬ 
dow,  near  the  gate  through  which  he  was  brought  in, 
called  out  in  contempt  and  derision,  “  Worts,  where’s 
now  your  God  l’’  The  good  confessor  in  bonds  desired 
her  to  turn  to  Micah  vii.  10.  She  did  so,  and  was  so 
struck  with  the  passage,  that  she  became  a  kind  friend 
to  him  in  his  long  confinement. 

lxxx.  10. — The  boughs  thereof  were  like  the 
goodly  cedars. 

Maundrell,  in  giving  a  description  of  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon,  says,  “  I  measured  one  of  the  largest,  and 
found  it  twelve  yards  six  inches  in  girth,  and  yet  sound, 
and  thirty-seven  yards  in  the  spread  of  its  boughs.  At 
about  five  or  six  yards  from  the  ground,  it  was  divided 
into  five  limbs,  each  of  which  was  equal  to  a  great 
tree.” 

lxxxi.  11,  12. — My  people  would  not  hearken 
to  my  voice ;  and  Israel  would  none  of  me. — So 
I  gave  them  up  unto  their  own  hearts’  lust ;  and 
they  walked  in  their  own  counsels. 

A  gentleman  called  his  sons  around  his  dying  bed, 
and  gave  them  the  following  relation: — “When  I  was 
a  youth,  the  Spirit  strove  with  me,  and  seemed  to  say, 
‘Seek  religion  now;’  but  Satan  suggested  the  necessity 
of  waiting  till  I  grew  up,  because  it  was  incompatible 
with  youthful  amusement ;  so  I  resolved  I  would  wait 
till  I  grew  up  to  be  a  man.  I  did  so,  and  was  then  re¬ 
minded  of  my  promise  to  seek  religion ;  but  Satan 
again  advised  me  to  wait  till  middle  age,  for  business 
and  a  young  family  demanded  all  my  attention.  Yes, 
I  said,  I  will  do  so ;  I  will  wait  till  middle  age.  I  did 
so ;  my  serious  impressions  left  me  for  some  years. 
They  were  again  renewed,  conscience  reminded  me  of 
my  promises ;  the  Spirit  said,  ‘  Seek  religion  now but 
then  I  had  less  time  than  ever ;  Satan  advised  my  wait¬ 
ing  till  I  was  old;  then  my  children  would  be  settled  in 
business,  and  I  should  have  nothing  else  to  do ;  I  could 

6 


62 


PSALM  LXXXII. 


then  give  an  undivided  attention  to  it.  I  listened  to  his 
suggestion,  and  the  Spirit  ceased  to  strive  with  me.  I 
have  lived  to  be  old,  but  now  I  have  no  desire  as  for¬ 
merly  to  attend  to  the  concerns  of  my  soul;  my  heart 
is  hardened.  I  have  resisted  and  quenched  the  Spirit, 
now  there  is  no  hope ;  already  I  feel  a  hell  within,  the 
beginning  of  an  eternal  misery.  I  feel  the  gnawings 
of  that  worm  that  never  dies.  Take  warning  from  my 
miserable  end;  seek  religion  now;  let  nothing  tempt 
you  to  put  off  this  important  concern.”  Then  in  the 
greatest  agonies  he  expired.  It  is  dreadful  to  trifle  with 
the  Spirit  of  God ! 

Ixxxii.  3,  4. — Defend  the  poor  and  fatherless  : 
do  justice  to  the  afflicted  and  needy. — Deliver  the 
poor  and  needy :  rid  them  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
wicked. 

There  lived  in  the  city  of  Zurich,  a  person  who, 
though  an  unworthy  character,  was  a  member  of  its 
Senate.  During  the  time  he  was  Prefect  over  a  district 
of  the  Canton,  he  had  committed  innumerable  acts  of 
the  grossest  injustice, — yea,  such  flagrant  crimes,  that 
all  the  country  people  reproached  and  cursed  him;  but 
no  one  dared  to  prosecute  him,  as  he  was  related  to 
several  members  of  the  Zurich  Government,  and  son-in- 
law  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  city.  Mr.  Lavater, 
the  celebrated  physiognomist,  having  often  heard  of  the 
atrocities  of  the  Prefect,  committed  against  even  help¬ 
less  widows  and  orphans,  and  having  duly  examined 
into  them,  felt  an  irresistible  desire  to  plead  the  cause 
of  the  poor  and  oppressed.  He  was  aware  that  his 
supporting  this  cause  would  expose  him  to  the  frowns 
of  the  great  and  the  mighty,  and  occasion  much  anxiety 
to  his  friends;  but  conceiving  it  to  be  his  duty,  he  de¬ 
termined  to  proceed.  Having  prepared  himself  by 
earnest  prayer,  and  consulted  an  intimate  friend,  be  ad¬ 
dressed  a  letter  to  the  Prefect,  in  which  he  strongly  re¬ 
proached  him  for  his  detestable  actions,  and  plainly 
signified  his  intention  to  bring  him  to  public  justice, 
should  he  not  restore  his  spoils  within  two  months. 


PSALM  LXXXIV. 


63 


The  time  having  elapsed,  and  no  restoration  having 
been  made,  Mr.  Lavater  proceeded  to  print  a  solemn 
indictment  against  him,  which  he  caused  to  be  delivered 
to  every  member  of  the  Zurich  Government.  At  first 
he  concealed  his  name;  but  when  called  upon,  he 
came  forward  in  the  most  open  manner,  nobly  avowed 
and  fully  proved  the  points  of  his  indictment  before  the 
whole  Senate,  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  the  wicked 
Prefect  (who,  conscious  of  his  guilt,  had  saved  himself 
by  flight)  solemnly  condemned  by  law,  his  unjust  pro¬ 
perty  confiscated,  and  restoration  made  to  oppressed 
poverty  and  innocence. 

lxxxiii.  15. — Persecute  them  with  thy  tempest, 
and  make  them  afraid  with  thy  storm. 

When  the  celebrated  Mr.  Blair,  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  was  deposed  by  Bishop  Bramble  of  Derry,  in 
Ireland,  he  cited  the  bishop  to  appear  before  the  tribu¬ 
nal  of  Christ,  to  answer  for  that  wicked  action.  “I  ap¬ 
peal,”  said  the  bishop,  “from  the  justice  of  God  to  his 
mercy.” — “Your  appeal,”  replied  Mr.  Blair,  “is  likely 
to  be  rejected;  because,  in  prohibiting  us  the  exercise 
of  our  ministry,  you  act  against  the  light  of  your  own 
conscience.”  The  bishop  was  shortly  after  smitten 
with  sickness,  and  when  Dr.  Maxwell,  his  physician, 
inquired  at  him  what  was  his  particular  complaint, 
after  a  long  silence,  he  replied,  “It  is  my  conscience  !” 
— “I  have,”  rejoined  the  doctor,  “no  cure  for  that.” 
This  confession  the  friends  of  the  bishop  endeavoured 
to  suppress ;  but  the  Countess  of  Andes,  who  had  it 
from  the  doctor’s  mouth,  and  who  was  worthy  of  credit, 
used  to  say,  “No  man  shall  suppress  that  report;  for  I 
shall  bear  witness  of  it  to  the  glory  of  God,  who  smote 
him  for  persecuting  Christ’s  faithful  servants.” 

lxxxiv.  10. — A  day  in  thy  courts  is  better  than 
a  thousand :  I  had  rather  be  a  door-keeper  in  the 
house  of  my  God,  than  dwell  in  the  tents  of  wick¬ 
edness. 


64 


PSALM  LXXXVI. 


A  man  who  lived  in  a  house  by  himself,  had  always 
been  in  the  practice  of  going  regularly  to  public  wor¬ 
ship,  but  some  years  previous,  for  a  considerable  time, 
he  had  found  so  little  comfort  in  hearing  the  gospel, 
that  more  than  once  he  had  debated  with  himself  if  it 
would  not  be  as  well  to  remain  at  home  on  the  Lord’s 
day.  One  Saturday  night  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
would  not  attend  sermon  next  day,  and  went  to  rest 
with  this  resolution  on  his  mind.  What  was  his  sur¬ 
prise,  when  he  awoke  from  his  sleep,  to  find  that  the 
Sabbath  was  nearly  gone.  “  When  I  awoke,”  said  he, 
“  it  was  the  evening  of  the  Sabbath.  I  was  struck  with 
the  reproof.  I  had  basely  resolved  that  I  should  not 
worship  God  in  his  house  on  his  own  day,  and  he  did 
not  allow  me  to  awake  to  spend  it  in  any  other  manner. 
The  reproof  was  of  use  to  me ;  since  that  time  I  have 
never  trifled  with  my  duty  of  seeking  God  in  his  sanc¬ 
tuary,  and  I  hope  I  have  done  it  often  since  that  time 
with  much  comfort.” 

lxxxv.  8. — He  will  speak  peace  unto  his  people, 
and  to  his  saints ;  but  let  them  not  turn  again  to 
folly. 

An  eminent  servant  of  Christ,  being  suddenly  intro¬ 
duced  into  a  large  and  respectable  assembly,  was  re¬ 
quested  to  deliver  an  extemporary  address  on  “The 
Peace  of  God.”  To  this  request  he  replied,  in  terms 
of  the  deepest  humiliation,  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him,  at  present,  to  speak  on  that  subject,  as  he  had  un¬ 
happily  deprived  himself  of  that  invaluable  blessing  by 
his  unfaithfulness  to  God.  He  then  sat  down,  silently 
humbling  himself  before  the  Lord.  This  frank  con¬ 
fession  became  the  means,  it  is  said,  of  the  conversion 
of  one  of  the  company. 

lxxxvi.  7. — In  the  day  of  my  trouble  I  will  call 
upon  thee  :  for  thou  wilt  answer  me. 

It  is  well  known  that  many  of  the  good  men  who 
were  driven  from  Great  Britain  to  America,  by  persecu- 


PSALM  LXXXVIII. 


65 


tion,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  had  to  endure  great 
privations.  In  the  month  of  June  1623,  their  hopes  of 
a  harvest  were  nearly  blasted  by  drought,  -which  with¬ 
ered  up  their  corn,  and  made  the  grass  look  like  hay.  All 
expected  to  perish  with  hunger.  In  their  distress  they 
set  apart  a  day  for  humiliation  and  prayer,  and  con¬ 
tinued  their  worship  for  eight  or  nine  hours.  God 
heard  their  prayers,  and  answered  them  in  a  way  which 
excited  universal  admiration.  Although  the  morning 
of  that  day  was  clear,  and  the  weather  very  hot  and 
dry  during  the  whole  forenoon,  yet  before  night  it  be¬ 
gan  to  rain,  and  gentle  showers  continued  to  fall  for 
many  days,  so  that  the  ground  became  thoroughly 
soaked,  and  the  drooping  corn  revived. 

lxxxvii.  3. — Glorious  things  are  spoken  of  thee, 
O  city  of  God. 

Fulgentius,  being  at  Rome,  and  observing  the  glory 
of  the  Roman  nobility,  the  triumphant  pomp  of  King 
Theodoric,  and  the  universal  splendour  and  gaiety  of 
that  city,  was  so  far  from  being  impressed  in  favour 
of  what  he  saw,  that  raising  up  his  thoughts  to  heavenly 
joys,  he  said  to  some  of  his  friends  that  accompanied 
him,  “  How  beautiful  must  the  celestial  Jerusalem  be, 
since  terrestrial  Rome  is  so  glittering!  If  such  honour 
be  given  to  lovers  of  vanity,  what  glory  shall  be  im¬ 
parted  to  the  saints,  who  are  lovers  and  followers  of 
truth !” 

lxxxviii.  3. — My  soul  is  full  of  troubles,  and 
my  life  draweth  nigh  unto  the  grave. 

Mr.  Johnson  gives  the  following  account  of  o,ne  of 
the  school  girls,  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  at  Regent’s 
Town,  Sierra  Leone  : — “  She  always  complained  of  the 
depravity  of  her  heart.  I  was  called  up  this  morning 
about  one  o’clock,  by  the  woman  who  attends  the  sick 
in  the  Female  Hospital.  I  found  this  poor  girl  in  great 
distress  of  mind.  She  cried  aloud,  ‘  Massa,  what  shall 
I  do  1  what  shall  I  do  1  lam  going  to  die  now,  and  my 
sius  be  too  much.  I  thief — I  lie — I  curse — I  do  bad  too 

6  * 


66 


PSALM  xcr. 


much — I  bad  past  all  people,  and  now  me  must  die  ! — 
What  shall  I  do]’  I  spoke  to  her  on  the  ability  and 
willingness  of  Jesus  to  save  her.  She  said  that  she 
had  prayed  to  Jesus  to  pardon  her  sins,  but  did  not 
know  whether  he  had  heard  her  prayers.  After  I  had 
spoken  to  her  for  some  time,  she  became  calm,  and  ap¬ 
peared  to  be  in  earnest  prayer.  I  saw  her  again  after 
family  prayer.  She  appeared  quite  composed,  and 
spoke  a  few  words  with  great  difficulty,  to  express  her 
peace  of  mind.  I  visited  her  once  more ;  and,  on  ask¬ 
ing  her  how  she  did,  she  said  with  great  difficulty,  ‘I 
pray;’  and  soon  afterwards  departed.” 

Ixxxix.  48. — What  man  is  he  that  liveth,  and 
shall  not  see  death  1  shall  he  deliver  his  soul  from 
the  hand  of  the  grave  1 

Mr.  Philip  Henry,  at  the  monthly  lectures  at  his  own 
house,  preached  upon  the  four  last  things,  death,  judg¬ 
ment,  heaven,  and  hell,  in  many  particulars,  but  com¬ 
monly  with  a  new  text  for  every  sermon.  When  he 
had,  in  many  sermons,  finished  the  first  of  the  four,  a 
person  who  used  to  hear  him  sometimes,  inquiring  of 
his  progress  in  his  subjects,  asked  him  if  he  had  done 
with  death,  meaning  that  subject  concerning  death  ;  to 
which  he  pleasantly  replied — “No,  I  have  not  done 
with  him  yet.  I  must  have  another  turn  with  him,  and 
he  will  give  me  a  fall ;  but  I  hope  to  have  the  victory  at 
last.” 

xc.  9. — We  spend  our  years  as  a  tale  that  is 
told. 

A  minister  in  Scotland,  preaching  a  sermon  to  his 
congregation  on  the  last  Sabbath  of  the  year  1793,  on 
contrasting  the  shortness  of  life  with  eternity,  and  hav¬ 
ing  mentioned  the  preceding  passage  of  Scripture,  fell 
back,  and  immediately  expired. 

xci.  3. — Surely  he  shall  deliver  thee  from  the 
noisome  pestilence. 


PSALM  XCII. 


67 


Lord  Craven  lived  in  London  when  that  sad  calamity, 
the  plague,  raged.  His  house  was  in  that  part  of  the 
town  since  called  Craven  Buildings.  On  the  plague 
growing  epidemic,  his  Lordship,  to  avoid  the  danger, 
resolved  to  go  to  his  seat  in  the  country.  His  coach 
and  six  were  accordingly  at  the  door,  his  baggage  put 
up,  and  all  things  in  readiness  for  the  journey.  As  he 
was  walking  through  his  hall  with  his  hat  on,  his  cane 
under  his  arm,  and  putting  on  his  gloves,  in  order  to 
step  into  his  carriage,  he  overheard  his  negro,  who 
served  him  as  postillion,  saying  to  another  servant,  “I 
suppose,  by  my  Lord’s  quitting  London  to  avoid  the 
plague,  that  his  God  lives  in  the  country,  and  not  in 
town.”  The  poor  negro  said  this  in  the  simplicity  of 
his  heart,  as  really  believing  a  plurality  of  Gods.  The 
speech,  however,  struck  Lord  Craven  very  sensibly, 
and  made  him  pause.  “  My  God,”  thought  he,  “  lives 
every  where,  and  can  preserve  me  in  town  as  well  as 
in  the  country.  I  will  even  stay  where  I  am.  The  ig¬ 
norance  of  that  negro  has  just  now  preached  to  me  a 
very  useful  sermon.  Lord,  pardon  this  unbelief,  and 
that  distrust  of  thy  providence,  which  made  me  think 
of  running  from  thy  hand.”  He  immediately  ordered 
his  horses  to  be  taken  off  from  the  coach,  and  the  bag¬ 
gage  to  be  taken  in.  He  continued  at  London,  was  re¬ 
markably  useful  among  his  sick  neighbours,  and  never 
caught  the  infection. 

xcii.  1,  2. — It  is  a  good  thing  to  give  thanks 
unto  the  Lord,  and  to  sing  praises  unto  thy  name, 
O  most  High  : — To  shew  forth  thy  loving  kindness 
in  the  morning,  and  thy  faithfulness  every  night. 

“About  twelve  years  ago,”  writes  one,  in  a  letter  to 
a  minister,  “  I  had  occasion  to  pass  a  toll-bar  in  the 
west  of  Fife,  and  happened  to  enter  into  conversation 
with  the  toll-keeper,  whom  I  found  a  very  intelligent, 
and  apparently  a  truly  pious  old  man.  In  the  course 
of  our  conversation,  the  great  decline  even  in  the  out¬ 
ward  forms  of  religion  was  mentioned;  and  as  a  strik¬ 
ing  proof  of  this,  the  toll-keeper  remarked — ‘  When  I 


68 


PSALM  XCIII. 


was  a  young  man,  about  fifty  years  ago,  I  left  Aberdeen, 
and  came  to  work  as  a  journeyman  flax-dresser  in  a 
respectable  town  in  the  county  of  Fife  ;  and  for  the  first 
two  weeks  or  so  after  I  arrived,  curiosity  led  me  out 
every  morning  at  the  breakfast  hour  to  see  the  town, 
and  at  this  time  every  door  was  shut,  and  the  inmates 
engaged  at  family  worship,  except  two  doors  which  I 
never  observed  to  be  shut;  but  these  families  perhaps 
might  have  some  reasonable  excuse  for  not  being  em¬ 
ployed  like  their  neighbours.  The  two  doors  I  remem¬ 
ber  most  distinctly  at  this  day,  and  could  point  them 
out.  And  before  I  left  the  town,  about  a  year  ago,  it 
was  nearly  as  rare  to  see  a  shut  door  for  the  purpose 
of  family  worship,  as  it  was  at  the  former  period  to  see 
an  open  one  !*”  What  matter  of  deep  regret,  when  so 
becoming  and  important  an  exercise  is  abandoned ! 

xciii.  5. — Thy  testimonies  are  very  sure :  holi¬ 
ness  becometh  thine  house,  O  Lord,  for  ever. 

The  late  Rev.  Claudius  Buchanan,  shortly  after  he 
had  visited  the  principal  parts  of  Europe,  was  met  on 
the  streets  of  London  by  an  old  Highlander  of  Scotland, 
who  was  an  intimate  acquaintance  of  his  father.  In 
order  to  have  a  little  conversation,  they  went  into  a 
public  house,  and  took  some  refreshment. — Young  Clau¬ 
dius  gave  his  countryman  a  very  animated  description 
of  his  tour,  and  of  the  wonders  he  had  seen  upon  the 
Continent.  The  old  man  listened  with  attention  to  his 
narrative,  and  then  eagerly  inquired  whether  his  reli¬ 
gious  principles  had  not  been  materially  injured  by 
mixing  among  such  a  variety  of  characters  and  reli¬ 
gions.  “Do  you  know  what  an  infidel  is ?”  said  Bu¬ 
chanan.  “Yes,”  was  the  reply.  “Then,”  said  he,  “I 
am  an  infidel ;  and  have  seen  the  absurdity  of  all  those 
nostrums  my  good  old  father  used  to  teach  me  in  the 
north;  and  can  you,”  added  he,  “seriously  believe  that 
the  Bible  is  a  revelation  from  the  Supreme  Being1?” — 
“I  do.” — “And  pray  tell  me  what  may  be  your  reasons?” 
— “  Claude,”  said  the  good  old  Highlander,  “  I  know 
nothing  about  what  learned  men  call  the  external  evi¬ 
dences  of  revelation,  but  I  will  tell  you  why  I  believe  it 


PSALM  XCVI. 


69 


to  be  from  God.  I  have  a  most  depraved  and  sinful 
nature,  and,  do  what  I  will,  I  find  I  cannot  make  myself 
holy.  My  friends  cannot  do  it  for  me,  nor  do  I  think 
all  the  angels  in  heaven  could.  One  thing  alone  does 
it, — the  reading  and  believing  what  I  read  in  that  bles¬ 
sed  book — that  does  it.  Now,  as  I  know  that  God  must 
be  holy,  and  a  lover  of  holiness,  and  as  I  believe  that 
book  is  the  only  thing  in  creation  that  produces  and 
promotes  holiness,  I  conclude  that  it  is  from  God,  and 
that  he  is  the  Author  of  it.” 

xciv.  23. — He  shall  cut  them  off  in  their  own 
wickedness. 

The  following  is  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  a  minister 
in  a  small  sea-port  town  in  Scotland: — “I  have  just 

now  heard  of  a  dreadful  scene.  One - ,  for  many 

years  master  of  a  coasting  vessel,  an  inhabitant  of  this 
place,  had,  in  his  younger  days,  made  a  distinguished 
profession  of  religion ;  and,  among  the  small  but  re¬ 
spectable  body  to  which  he  belonged,  he  was  deemed 
an  eminent  Christian.  Many  years  ago,  this  man  be¬ 
came  a  Deist, — nay,  an  avowed  Atheist,  and  made  the 
being  of  Deity  and  a  future  state  the  subjects  of  his 
ridicule  and  profane  mockery.  For  horrid  swearing 
and  lewdness  he  had  perhaps  few  equals  in  Scotland. 
Last  night,  in  a  public  house,  when  in  a  rage  of  swear¬ 
ing,  he  dropt  into  eternity  in  a  moment,  by  the  rupture 
pf  a  blood-vessel.  How  awful,  to  be  hurried  before  the 
tribunal  of  God  in  the  very  act  of  blasphemy !” 

xcv.  7,  8. — To-day,  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice, 
— harden  not  your  heart. 

Rabbi  Eliezer  said,  “  Turn  to  God  one  day  before 
your  death.”  His  disciples  said,  “How  can  a  man 
know  the  day  of  his  death'?”  He  answered  them, 
“Therefore  you  should  turn  to  God  to-day.  Perhaps 
you  may  die  to-morrow;  thus,  every  day  will  be  em¬ 
ployed  in  returning.” 

xcvi.  10. — Say  among  the  heathen  that  the 


70 


PSALM  xcvir. 


Lord  reigneth  :  the  world  also  shall  be  established, 
that  it  shall  not  be  moved :  he  shall  judge  the  peo¬ 
ple  righteously. 

At  a  public  festival  at  Raiatea,  a  South  Sea  island, 
some  of  the  chiefs  and  others  addressed  the  company, 
in  brief  and  spirited  appeals  to  their  memory,  of  the 
abominations  of  past  times,  and  to  their  gratitude  for 
the  glorious  and  blessed  changes  which  the  gospel  of 
Christ  had  wrought  among  them.  ’  They  compared 
their  present  manner  of  feasting,  their  improved  dress, 
their  purer  enjoyments,  their  more  courteous  behaviour, 
the  cleanliness  of  their  persons,  and  the  delicacy  of 
their  language  in  conversation,  with  their  former  glut¬ 
tony,  nakedness,  riot,  brutality,  filthy  customs,  and  ob¬ 
scene  talk.  One  of  the  speakers  observed,  “  At  such 
a  feast  as  this,  a  few  years  ago,  none  but  kings,  or  great 
chiefs,  or  strong  men,  could  have  got  any  thing  good  to 
eat;  the  poor,  and  the  feeble,  and  the  lame,  would  have 
been  trampled  under  foot,  and  many  of  them  killed  in 
the  quarrels  and  battles  that  followed  the  gormandizing 
and  drunkenness.” — “  This,”  said  another,  “  is  the  reign 
of  Jehovah — that  was  the  reign  of  Satan.  Our  kings 
might  kill  us  for  their  pleasure,  and  offer  our  carcases 
to  the  Evil  Spirit;  our  priests  and  our  rulers  delighted 
in  shedding  our  blood.  Now,  behold,  our  persons  are 
safe,  our  property  is  our  own,  and  we  have  no  need  to 
fly  to  the  mountains  to  hide  ourselves,  as  we  used  to  do, 
when  a  sacrifice  was  wanted  for  Oro,  and  durst  not 
come  back  to  our  homes  till  we  heard  that  a  victim  had 
been  slain  and  carried  to  the  marae.” 

xcvii.  1. — The  Lord  reigneth;  let  the  earth 
rejoice ;  let  the  multitude  of  isles  be  glad  thereof. 

During  a  certain  juncture  at  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  when  a  French  invasion  was  generally 
dreaded,  Mrs.  Scott,  a  pious  gentlewoman,  happened  to 
be  in  company  with  a  number  of  ladies,  who  began, 
with  a  sorrowful  countenance,  to  express  themselves  in 
a  tone  of  most  distressing  apprehension  regarding  the 


PSALM  C. 


71 


consequences  of  that  deprecated  event;  but  after  listen¬ 
ing  for  a  little  to  their  melancholy  language,  she  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  reprove  their  immoderate  solicitude  and 
timidity,  saying,  “  Come,  my  ladies,  lay  aside  your  un¬ 
believing  fears,  remember  that  the  Lord  reigns.” 

xcviii.  8,  9. — Let  the  floods  clap  their  hands  : 
let  the  hills  be  joyful  together  before  the  Lord ; 
for  he  cometh  to  judge  the  earth  :  with  righteous¬ 
ness  shall  he  judge  the  world,  and  the  people  with 
equity. 

“  There  is  an  account  come,”  says  Ebenezer  Erskine 
in  his  diary,  “  of  the  arrival  of  King  George,  and  a 
great  rejoicing  for  it  in  Edinburgh.  I  see  the  fires  and 
illuminations  of  that  city  reflected  on  the  skies.  0  how 
will  the  heavens  reflect  and  shine  with  illuminations, 
when  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  shall  erect 
his  tribunal  in  the  clouds,  and  come  in  his-  own  glory, 
and  his  Father’s  glory,  and  in  the  glory  of  the  holy 
angels  !  O  what  a  heartsome  day  will  that  be  !  When 
Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  appear,  then  shall  we  ap¬ 
pear  with  him  in  glory.  We  shall  then  lift  up  our 
heads  with  joy,  because  it  shall  be  a  time  of  refreshing 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.” 

xcix.  3. — Let  them  praise  thy  great  and  terrible 
name  ;  for  it  is  holy. 

A  certain  American  planter  had  a  favourite  domestic 
negro,  who  always  stood  opposite  to  him  when  waiting 
at  the  table.  His  master  being  a  profane  character, 
often  took  the  name  of  God  in  vain,  when  the  negro 
immediately  made  a  low  and  solemn  bow.  On  being 
asked  why  he  did  so,  he  replied,  that  he  never  heard 
that  great  name  mentioned,  but  it  filled  his  whole  soul 
with  reverence  and  awe.  Thus,  without  offence,  he 
cured  his  master  of  a  criminal  and  pernicious  custom. 

c.  4. — Enter  into  his  gates  with  thanksgiving  ; 


72 


PSALM  cr. 


and  into  his  courts  with  praise  :  be  thankful  unto 
him,  and  bless  his  name. 

“There  is  a  tradition,”  says  Dr.  Franklin,  “that  in 
the  planting  of  New  England,  the  first  settlers  met  with 
many  difficulties  and  hardships,  as  is  generally  the 
case  when  a  civilized  people  attempt  establishing  them¬ 
selves  in  a  wilderness  country.  Being  men  of  piety, 
they  sought  relief  from  heaven  by  laying  their  wants 
and  distresses  before  the  Lord  on  frequent  set  days  of 
fasting  and  prayer.  Constant  meditation  and  discourse 
on  their  difficulties,  kept  their  minds  gloomy  and  dis¬ 
contented;  and  like  the  children  of  Israel,  there  were 
many  disposed  to  return  to  Egypt,  which  persecution 
had  induced  them  to  abandon.  At  length,  when  it  was 
proposed  in  one  of  their  assemblies  to  proclaim  a  fast, 
a  farmer  of  plain  sense  rose  and  remarked,  that  the  in-* 
conveniencies  they  suffered,  and  concerning  which  they 
had  so  often  wearied  Heaven  with  their  complaints, 
were  not  so  great  as  might  have  been  expected,  and 
were  diminishing  every  day  as  the  colony  strengthened; 
that  the  earth  began  to  reward  their  toil,  and  to  furnish 
liberally  for  their  subsistence ;  that  the  seas  and  rivers 
were  full  of  fish,  the  air  sweet,  the  climate  healthy; 
and  above  all,  that  they  were  in  the  full  enjoyment  of 
their  civil  and  religious  liberty :  he  therefore  thought, 
that  reflecting  and  conversing  on  these  subjects  would 
be  more  comfortable,  as  tending  more  to  make  them 
contented  with  their  situation;  and  that  it  would  be  more 
becoming  the  gratitude  they  owed  the  Divine  Being,  if, 
instead  of  a  Fast,  they  should  appoint  a  Thanksgiving. 
His  advice  was  taken,  and  from  that  day  to  this,  they 
have,  in  every  year,  observed  circumstances  of  public 
felicity  sufficient  to  furnish  cause  for  a  Thanksgiving- 
day  ;  which  is  therefore  constantly  ordered,  and  religi¬ 
ously  observed.” 

ci.  6. — Mine  eyes  shall  be  upon  the  faithful  of 
the  land,  that  they  may  dwell  with  me. 

A  truly  pious  man,  of  rank  and  influence  in  society, 
was  in  the  habit  of  entertaining  and  admitting  to  a  de- 


PSALM  CHI. 


73 


gree  of  intimacy,  persons  of  very  humble  circumstances 
in  life,  if  they  only  gave  evidence  of  true  religion.  A 
friend  of  his,  who  was  accustomed  to  measure  every 
thing  according  to  the  standard  of  this  world,  rallied 
him  on  the  subject  of  his  associates ;  intimating  his 
surprise  that  he  should  admit  to  his  hospitality  and 
friendship  persons  of  so  obscure  an  origin,  and  of  so 
little  estimation  among  men.  He  replied,  in  a  tone  of 
unaffected  humility,  that  as  he  could  scarcely  hope  to 
enjoy  so  elevated  a  rank  as  they  in  the  future  world, 
he  knew  not  why  he  should  despise  them  in  the  pre¬ 
sent.  The  reproof  came  home  to  the  feelings  of  the 
proud  man,  and  he  was  silent;  conscience  whispering, 
meanwhile,  how  dim  were  his  prospects  of  rising,  in 
the  future  world,  to  an  equality  with  the  pious  poor,  if 
his  Christian  friend  was  in  danger  of  falling  below 
them. 

cii.  11. — My  days  are  like  a  shadow  that  de- 
clineth ;  and  lam  withered  like  grass. 

The  following  inscription,  in  the  choir  of  St.  Saviour’s 
church,  Southwark,  is  on  a  tablet  at  the  base  of  the 
monument  of  Richard  Humble,  Gentleman,  who  was  an 
Alderman  of  London  in  the  reign  of  James  I.: — 

“Like  to  the  damask  rose  you  see, 

Or  like  the  blossom  on  the  tree, 

Or  like  the  dainty  flower  of  May, 

Or  like  the  morning  of  the  day, 

Or  like  the  sun,  or  like  the  shade, 

Or  like  the  gourd  which  Jonas  had: 

E’en  so  is  man,  whose  thread  is  spun, 

Drawn  out,  and  cut,  and  so  is  done ! 

The  rose  withers,  the  blossom  blasteth, 

The  flower  fades,  the  morning  hasteth, 

The  sun  sets,  the  shadow  flies, 

The  gourd  consumes,  the  man  he  dies  !” 

ciii.  3. — Who  satisfieth  thy  mouth  with  good 
things. 


7 


74 


PSALM  CIV. 


Mr.  Newton  once  speaking  in  reference  to  the  pre¬ 
ceding  passage,  said,  “  Bring  a  man  to  see  the  best  cov¬ 
ered  table  in  the  wrorld,  looking  at  it  might  gratify  his 
eyes,  but  would  never  satisfy  his  mouth.  We  must 
taste  before  we  can  see  that  God  is  good.” 

civ.  20,  21. — Thou  makest  darkness,  and  it  is 
night,  wherein  all  the  beasts  of  the  forest  do  creep 
forth. — The  young  lions  roar  after  their  prey. 

Sir  John  Gayer,  a  wealthy  citizen  of  London,  and  a 
merchant  of  the  first  eminence,  in  the  reigns  of  King 
James  and  Charles  I.,  was  at  one  time  travelling  with  a 
caravan  of  merchants  across  the  deserts  of  Arabia, 
when,  by  some  strange  mistake,  he  separated  from  his 
companions,  and  night  overtook  him  before  he  became 
sensible  of  his  danger.  He  in  vain  endeavoured  to 
gain  the  caravan ;  and  he  was  brought  into  all  the 
horrors  of  darkness,  in  the  midst  of  a  dreary  desert. 
No  place  of  refuge  was  near,  and  he  seemed  the  des¬ 
tined  prey  of  the  savage  animals  which  he  heard  roar¬ 
ing  for  food  a  short  distance  from  him.  In  this  awful 
situation,  he  resigned  himself,  like  a  true  Christian,  to 
the  disposal  of  his  God.  Falling  on  his  knees,  he  pray¬ 
ed  fervently,  and  promised,  that  if  heaven  would  rescue 
him  from  impending  danger,  the  whole  produce  of  his 
merchandise  should  be  given  as  an  offering  in  benefac¬ 
tion  to  his  native  country.  At  this  moment  a  lion  of 
tremendous  size  was  approaching  him.  Death  ap¬ 
peared  inevitable ;  but  whether  it  was  owing  to  the 
prayers  of  the  pious  knight,  or  to  the  generous  nature 
of  the  noble  animal,  the  fact  was,  that  the  lion,  after 
prowling  round  him,  bristling  his  shaggy  hair,  and  eye¬ 
ing  him,  apparently  with  fierce  intent,  suddenly  stopped 
short,  turned  round  and  walked  quietly  away,  without 
offering  him  the  slightest  injury.  The  knight  continued 
in  the  same  suppliant  posture  till  the  morning  dawned, 
when  he  pursued  his  journey,  and  happily  came  up 
with  his  friends,  who  had  considered  him  as  lost.  The 
remainder  of  his  voyage  was  prosperous;  he  disposed 
of  his  freight  to  advantage,  and  reached  England  with 
increased  wealth.  In  fulfilment  of  his  engagement,  he 


PSALM  CVII. 


75 


distributed  to  different  charities  considerable  sums,  but 
particularly  to  the  poor  of  his  own  parish  ;  and  among 
other  donations,  he  bequeathed  two  hundred  pounds  to 
the  church  of  St.  Catharine  Cree,  to  be  laid  out  in  the 
purchase  of  an  estate,  the  profits  of  which  were  also  to 
be  applied  to  the  poor,  on  condition  that  a  sermon 
should  be  occasionally  preached  in  that  church,  to 
commemorate  his  deliverance  from  the  jaws  of  the 
lion. 

cv.  15. — Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do  my 
prophets  no  harm. 

The  Rev.  James  Garie,  with  some  other  ministers, 
attempted,  in  1790,  amidst  much  opposition,  to  dissem¬ 
inate  the  gospel  in  some  of  the  darkest  parts  of  Ire¬ 
land.  One  evening  a  man  entered  his  room  with  a 
pistol,  threatening  to  take  away  his  life.  Mr.  Garie, 
holding  up  a  small  Bible,  advanced  towards  him,  and 
with  a  smiling  countenance,  looked  him  full  in  the  face. 
Struck  with  his  mild  and  innocent  appearance,  the  man 
immediately  retired  from  him,  and  his  life  was  pre¬ 
served. 

cvi.  15. — He  gave  them  their  request ;  but  sent 
leanness  into  their  soul. 

A  lady  in  the  south  of  England,  had  a  little  boy  who 
was  very  ill.  On  being  told  there  was  no  hope  of  his 
recovery,  she  became  almost  frantic,  and  opened  her 
mouth,  not  in  prayer  to  God  for  her  own  submission 
and  her  child’s  salvation,  but  in  positive  declaration 
that  her  child  should  not  be  taken  from  her.  “0  God, 
thou  shalt  not  take  my  child — he  shall  not  die,”  was 
her  prayer.  The  prayer  was  answered.  The  child  did 
not  die.  He  recovered;  and  his  mother  lived  to  see 
him  taken  to  the  gallows ! 

evii.  24. — These  see  the  works  of  the  Lord, 
and  his  wonders  in  the  deep. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  career  of  the  Rev.  John 


76 


PSALM  cvur. 


Wesley,  influenced  by  a  desire  to  do  good,  he  under* 
took  a  voyage  to  Georgia.  During  a  storm  on  the  voy¬ 
age  he  was  very  much  alarmed  by  the  fear  of  death, 
and  being  a  severe  judge  of  himself,  he  concluded  that 
he  was  unfit  to  die.  He  observed  the  lively  faith  of  the 
Moravians,  which,  in  the  midst  of  danger,  kept  their 
minds  in  a  state  of  tranquillity  and  ease,  to  which  he 
and  the  English  on  board  were  strangers.  While  they 
were  singing  at  the  commencement  of  their  service, 
the  sea  broke  over  them,  split  the  mainsail  in  pieces, 
covered  the  ship,  and  poured  in  between  the  decks,  as 
if  the  great  deep  had  already  swallowed  them  up. 
The  English  screamed  terribly — the  Moravians  calmly 
sung  on.  Mr.  Wesley  asked  one  of  them  afterwards, 
if  he  was  not  afraid.  He  answered,  “I  thank  God, 
no.”  “  But,  were  not  your  women  and  children  afraid!” 
He  replied,  mildly,  “No:  our  women  and  children  are 
not  afraid  to  die.”  These  things  struck  him  forcibly, 
and  strengthened  his  desire  to  know  more  of  these  ex¬ 
cellent  people. 


cviii.  4. — Thy  mercy  is  great  above  the  hea¬ 
vens. 

To  a  person  under  distress  of  mind,  Mr.  Hervey  says 
in  a  letter,  “Don’t  select  such  terrifying  texts  for  your 
meditation,  as  in  your  letter  you  tell  me  you  have  done. 
It  is  as  improper  as  if  you  should  eat  the  coldest 
melon,  or  use  the  most  slight  covering,  when  shivering 
with  an  ague.  Choose,  the  morning  after  you  receive 
this  letter,  (by  way  of  antidote  to  the  texts  of  your  own 
selecting,)  the  following  for  your  meditation  : — ‘  His 
mercy  is  great  above  the  heavens.’  ‘His  mercy  en- 
dureth  for  ever.’  Put  together  these  two  expressions, 
and  see  whether  they  don’t  amount  to  more  than  either 
your  imprudencies  or  your  distress.  You  have,  to  be 

sure,  done  amiss  in  the  matter  of - .  God  forbid  I 

should  justify  your  conduct!  but  let  it  not  be  said,  let 
it  not  be  surmised,  it  is  beyond  the  reach  of  God’s  im¬ 
measurable  goodness  to  pardon,  or  of  Christ’s  immense 
merits  to  expiate  the  sin.  None  can  tell,  none  can 
think,  what  mercy  there  is  with  the  Lord.  There  is  a 


PSALM  CXI. 


77 


wide  difference  between  humiliation  and  despair;  draw 
near  to  Christ  with  a  humble  boldness.” 

cix.  4. — For  my  love  they  are  my  adversaries  : 
but  I  give  myself  unto  prayer. 

Mr.  Burkitt,  in  his  diary,  relates  his  having  met  at 
one  time  with  a  very  unjust  and  unexpected  accusa¬ 
tion  from  a  person  whom  he  had  faithfully  served,  and 
sought  to  oblige.  “  The  consciousness  of  my  own  in¬ 
nocence,”  he  adds,  “  supported  me,  and  I  hope  God  will 
do  me  good  by  all.  Some  persons  had  never  had  a 
particular  share  in  my  prayers  but  for  the  injuries  they 
have  done  me.” 

cx.  3. — Thy  people  shall  be  willing  in  the  day 
of  thy  power. 

A  deist,  whose  infidelity  was  shaken  by  the  conver¬ 
sation  of  his  little  daughter,  who  attended  a  Sabbath 
school,  was  induced  to  attend  the  preaching  of  the  gos¬ 
pel.  The  Holy  Spirit  accompanied  it  with  his  blessing. 
On  the  following  November  5th,  he  convened  his  family 
together,  and  having  made  a  bon-fire  of  his  infidel 
books,  they  all  joined  in  singing  that  hymn, — “Come 
let  us  join  our  cheerful  songs,”  &c. 

cxi.  5. — He  hath  given  meat  unto  them  that 
fear  him  ;  he  will  ever  be  mindful  of  his  cove¬ 
nant. 

Mr.  M - ,  a  pious  and  zealous  curate  in  Yorkshire, 

was  in  circumstances  of  pecuniary  distress ;  but  at  the 
same  time,  he  had  frequent  experience  of  the  Lord’s 
goodness  to  his  family  in  their  straits.  Once,  when  in 
great  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  a  five-guinea  note 
was  sent  them  by  the  carrier;  but  from  whom,  they 
never  could  learn.  On  another  occasion,  their  stock, 
both  of  coals  and  money,  was  exhausted.  Having  no 
prospect  of  a  supply,  they  retired  to  rest  that  evening — 
“  Cast  down,  but  not  in  despair.”  In  the  morning,  after 


78 


PSALM  CXIII. 


praying  with  his  wife,  Mr.  M -  took  a  walk  out  on 

the  highway,  still  continuing  the  devout  exercise  of 
prayer,  when  he  was  met  by  the  post.  Without  being 
able  to  assign  a  reason  why,  he  felt  an  impression 
which  led  him  to  ask,  “Have  you  a  letter  for  me!” 
To  which  the  person  replied  in  the  affirmative.  Upon 
receiving  the  letter,  he  immediately  opened  it,  and 
found  it  to  be  an  anonymous  epistle,  with  five  pounds 
enclosed.  Soon  after  this,  a  friend  brought  a  cow  for 
their  service ;  and  towards  evening,  another  friend  sent 
them  a  cart-load  of  coals.  Thus,  without  making 
known  their  case  to  any  one,  except  the  Lord  God  of 
Elijah,  they  received  in  one  day  a  seasonable  supply 
of  money,  milk,  and  coals. 

cxii.  9. — He  hath  dispersed  :  he  hath  given  to 
the  poor ;  his  righteousness  endureth  for  ever ; 
his  horn  shall  be  exalted  with  honour. 

Tiberius  II.  was  so  liberal  to  the  poor,  that  his  wife 
blamed  him  for  it.  Speaking  to  him  once  of  his  wast¬ 
ing  his  treasure  by  this  means,  he  told  her,  “  He  should 
never  want  money  so  long  as,  in  obedience  to  Christ’s 
command,  he  supplied  the  necessities  of  the  poor.” 
Shortly  after  this,  he  found  a  great  treasure  under  a 
marble  table  which  had  been  taken  up;  and  news  was 
also  brought  him  of  the  death  of  a  very  rich  man,  who 
had  left  his  whole  estate  to  him. 

cxiii.  7,  8.  He  raiseth  up  the  poor  out  of  the 
dust,  and  lifteth  the  needy  out  of  the  dunghill ; 
that  he  may  set  him  with  princes,  even  with  the 
princes  of  his  people. 

Mr.  Brown  of  Haddington,  during  his  last  illness, 
having  one  day  come  in  from  his  ride,  was  scarcely  set 
doAvn,  when  he  began  expressing  his  admiration  of  the 
love  of  God:  “0!  the  sovereignty  of  grace!  How 
strange  that  I,  a  poor  cottager’s  son,  should  have  a 
chaise  to  ride  in ;  and  what  is  far  more  wonderful,  I 


PSALM  CXV. 


79 


think  God  hath  often  given  me  rides  in  the  chariot  of 
the  new  covenant:  in  the  former  case,  he  hath  raised 
me  from  the  dunghill,  and  set  me  with  great  men ;  but 
in  the  latter,  he  hath  exalted  the  man,  sinful  as  a 
devil,  and  made  him  to  sit  with  the  Prince  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth.  0,  astonishing !  astonishing !  astonish¬ 
ing 

111 0  *  ♦ 


cxiv.  3. — Jordan  was  driven  back. 

Chateaubriand,  describing  the  emotions  he  felt  on 
his  approach  to  this  celebrated  river,  says,  “I  had  sur¬ 
veyed  the  great  rivers  of  America  with  that  pleasure 
which  solitude  and  nature  impart;  I  had  visited  the 
Tiber  with  enthusiasm,  and  sought  with  the  same  in¬ 
terest  the  Eurotas  and  the  Cephisus;  but  I  cannot  ex¬ 
press  what  I  felt  at  the  sight  of  the  Jordan.  Not  only 
did  this  river  remind  me  of  a  renowned  antiquity,  and 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  names  that  the  most  ex¬ 
quisite  poetry  ever  confided  to  the  memory  of  man  ; 
but  its  shores  likewise  presented  to  my  view  the  thea¬ 
tre  of  the  miracles  of  my  religion.  Judea  is  the  only 
country  in  the  world  that  revives  in  the  traveller  the 
memory  of  human  affairs  and  of  celestial  things,  and 
which,  by  this  combination,  produces  in  the  soul  a  feel¬ 
ing  and  ideas  which  no  other  religion  is  capable  of  ex¬ 
citing.” 

cxv.  5. — They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak 
not ;  eyes  have  they,  but  they  see  not,  &c. 

Mr.  Thomas,  missionary  in  India,  was  one  day  tra¬ 
velling  alone  through  the  country,  when  he  saw  a  great 
many  people  waiting  near  a  temple  of  their  false  gods. 
He  went  up  to  them,  and,  as  soon  as  the  doors  were 
opened,  he  walked  into  the  temple.  Seeing  an  idol 
raised  above  the  people,  he  walked  boldly  up  to  it,  held 
up  his  hand,  and  asked  for  silence.  He  then  put  his 
fingers  on  its  eyes,  and  said,  “  It  has  eyes,  but  it  cannot 
see!  It  has  ears,  but  it  cannot  hear!  It  has  a  nose, 
but  it  cannot  smell !  It  has  hands,  but  it  cannot  handle ! 
It  has  a  mouth,  but  it  cannot  speak !  Neither  is  thero 


80 


PSALM  CXVII. 


any  breath  in  it!”  Instead  of  doing  injury  to  him  for 
affronting  their  god  and  themselves,  they  were  all  sur¬ 
prised;  and  an  old  Brahmin  was  so  convinced  of  hi$ 
folly  by  what  Mr.  Thomas  said,  that  he  also  cried  out, 
“  It  has  feet,  but  it  cannot  run  away !”  The  people 
raised  a  shout,  and  being  ashamed  of  their  stupidity, 
they  left  the  temple,  and  went«to  their  homes. 

cxvi.  16. — 0  Lord,  truly  I  am  thy  servant;  I 
am  thy  servant,  and  the  son  of  thine  handmaid. 

“Besides  the  common  mercy  of  being  born  in  a 
Christian  land,”  says  General  Burn,  “  God  was  pleased 
to  bestow  upon  me  another,  which  is  not  common  to  all 
his  children;  that  of  being  born  of  godly  parents,  and 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  truly  pious  relations.  In¬ 
fant  reason  no  sooner  dawned,  than  they  began  to  use 
every  possible  means  to  give  that  reason  a  right  bias 
towards  its  proper  object;  and  they  daily  approached 
a  throne  of  grace  with  fervent  prayer  for  their  helpless 
child,  before  he  knew  how  to  pray  for  himself.  When 
a  rude  unthinking  boy  at  school,  I  have  sometimes 
stood  at  my  pious  grandmother’s  closet  door,  and  how 
many  heart-affecting  groans  and  ardent  supplications 
have  I  heard  poured  forth  for  me,  for  which  I  then 
never  imagined  there  was  the  smallest  occasion  !  Yet, 
if  the  prayers  of  the  righteous  avail  much,  (and  surely 
I  can  confirm  the  truth  of  this  scripture,)  how  greatly 
am  I  indebted  to  God,  who  blessed  me  with  such 
parents. 

cxvii.  2. — His  merciful  kindness  is  great  to¬ 
ward  us. 

One  day  a  female  friend  called  on  the  late  Rev. 
William  Evans,  a  pious  minister  in  England,  and 
asked  how  he  felt  himself.  “I  am  weakness  itself,”  he 
replied;  “but  I  am  on  the  Rock.  I  do  not  experience 
those  transports  which  some  have  expressed  in  the 
view  of  death;  but  my  dependence  is  on  the  mercy  of 
God  in  Christ.  Here  my  religion  began,  and  here  it 
must  end.” 


PSALM  CXltf.  81 

cxviii.  8. — It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord,  than 
to  put  confidence  in  man. 

“  Christians  might  avoid  much  trouble  and  inconve¬ 
nience,”  says  Dr.  Payson,  “if  they  would  only  believe 
what  they  profess — that  God  is  able  to  make  them  hap¬ 
py  without  any  thing  else.  They  imagine,  if  such  a 
dear  friend  were  to  die,  or  such  and  such  blessings  to 
be  removed,  they  should  be  miserable;  whereas  God 
can  make  them  a  thousand  times  happier  without  them. 
To  mention  my  own  case, — God  has  been  depriving 
me  of  one  blessing  after  another;  but  as  every  one  was 
removed,  he  has  come  in,  and  filled  up  its  place ;  and 
now  when  I  am  a  cripple,  and  not  able  to  move,  I  am 
happier  than  ever  I  was  in  my  life  before,  or  ever  ex¬ 
pected  to  be;  and  if  I  had  believed  this  twenty  years 
ago,  I  might  have  been  spared  much  anxiety.” 

cxix.  71. — It  is  good  for  me  that  I  have  been 
afflicted. 

A  young  man,  who  had  been  long  confined  with  a 
diseased  limb,  and  was  near  his  dissolution,  was  at¬ 
tended  by  a  friend,  who  requested  that  the  wound  might 
be  uncovered.  When  this  was  done,  “  There,”  said  the 
young  man,  “  there  it  is,  and  a  precious  treasure  it  has 
been  to  me ;  it  saved  me  from  the  folly  and  vanity  of 
youth ;  it  made  me  cleave  to  God  as  my  only  portion, 
and  to  eternal  glory  as  my  only  hope ;  and  I  think  it 
has  now  brought  me  very  near  to  my  Father’s  house.” 

cxix.  92. — Unless  thy  law  had  been  my  de¬ 
lights,  I  should  then  have  perished  in  mine 
affliction. 

A  person  who  subscribed  to  the  Bible  Society  of 
Nismes,  in  France,  gave  the  following  account  of  him¬ 
self  to  one  of  the  office-bearers  of  the  Society: — “Un¬ 
der  the  late  emperor  (Bonaparte)  I  was  attached  to  the 
army ;  and  being  taken  prisoner  and  carried  to  England, 
I  was  confined  in  one  of  the  prison-ships.  There,  hud- 


82 


PSALM  CXX. 


died  together  one  above  another,  and  deprived  of  every 
thing  that  could  tend  to  soften  the  miseries  of  life,  I 
abandoned  myself  to  dark  despair,  and  resolved  to  make 
away  with  myself.  In  this  state  of  mind,  an  English 
clergyman  visited  us,  and  addressed  us  to  the  following 
effect : — ‘  My  heart  bleeds  for  your  losses  and  privations, 
nor  is  it  in  my  power  to  remedy  them ;  but  I  can  offer 
consolation  for  your  immortal  souls,  and  this  consola¬ 
tion  is  contained  in  the  word  of  God.  Read  this  book, 
my  friends ;  for  I  am  willing  to  present  every  one  with 
a  copy  of  the  Bible,  who  is  desirous  to  possess  it.’ — 
The  tone  of  kindness  with  which  he  spoke,  and  the 
candour  of  this  pious  man,  made  such  an  impression 
upon  me,  that  I  burst  into  tears.  I  gratefully  accepted 
a  Bible ;  and  in  it  I  found  abundant  consolation,  amidst 
all  my  miseries  and  distresses.  From  that  moment  the 
Bible  has  become  a  book  precious  to  my  soul ;  out  of  it 
I  have  gathered  motives  for  resignation  and  courage  to 
bear  up  in  adversity;  and  I  feel  happy  in  the  idea  that 
it  may  prove  to  others  what  it  has  been  to  me.” 

cxix.  136. — Rivers  of  waters  run  down  mine 
eyes,  because  they  keep  not  thy  law. 

A  deaf  and  dumb  boy,  thirteen  years  of  age,  educa¬ 
ted  in  the  Institution  at  Edinburgh,  after  an  absence  of 
four  years,  went  home  to  see  his  mother.  When  he 
entered  her  house,  in  company  with  his  benefactor,  she 
was  sitting  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  which  greatly  af¬ 
fected  him.  He  took  his  pencil,  and  thus  attempted  to 
show  her  the,  evil  and  danger  of  such  conduct,  and 
gave  her  much  good  advice.  After  retiring  with  his 
friend,  at  whose  house  he  went  to  lodge,  his  counte¬ 
nance  became  very  sorrowful,  and  the  tears  trickled 
down  his  cheeks.  His  friend  asked  him  the  occasion 
of  all  this,  when  he  wrote,  that  he  was  thinking,  if  he 
got  to  heaven,  how  sorry  he  should  be  not  to  find  his 
mother  there. 

cxx.  7. — I  am  for  peace. 

The  late  John  Dickinson,  Esq.,  of  Birmingham,  was 


PSALM  CXXII. 


83 


often  called  by  way  of  distinction,  “The  Peace-maker;” 
and  such  was  his  anxiety  to  keep  the  bonds  of  peace 
from  being  broken — such  was  his  solicitude  to  heal  the 
breach  when  made,  that  he  would  stoop  to  any  act  but 
that  of  meanness — make  any  sacrifice  but  that  of 
principle — and  endure  any  mode  of  treatment,  not  ex¬ 
cepting  even  insult  and  reproach.  From  the  high  esti¬ 
mate  in  which  his  character  was  held,  he  was  often 
called  upon  to  act  as  umpire  in  cases  of  arbitration, 
and  it  was  but  rarely,  if  ever,  that  the  equity  of  his  de¬ 
cisions  was  impeached.  On  one  occasion,  two  men 
were  disputing  in  a  public  house  about  the  result  of  an 
arbitration,  when  a  third  said,  “  Had  John  Dickinson 
any  thing  to  do  with  it!” — “Yes,”  was  the  reply. 
“Then  all  was  right,  I  am  sure;”  and  in  this  opinion 
the  whole  party  concurred,  and  the  disputation  ceased. 

cxxi.  5. — The  Lord  is  thy  keeper. 

In  the  year  1752,  Dr.  Gill  had  a  memorable  escape 
from  death  in  his  own  study.  One  of  his  friends  had 
mentioned  to  him  a  remark  of  Dr.  Halley,  the  celebra¬ 
ted  astronomer,  that  close  study  preserves  a  man’s  life, 
by  keeping  him  out  of  harm’s  way;  but  one  day,  after 
he  had  just  left  his  room  to  go  to  preach,  a  stack  of 
chimneys  was  blown  down,  forced  its  way  through  the 
roof  of  the  house,  and  broke  his  writing  table,  in  the 
very  spot  where  a  few  minutes  before  he  had  been  sit¬ 
ting.  The  doctor  very  properly  remarked  afterwards  to 
his  friend,  “  A  man  may  come  to  danger  and  harm  in 
the  closet  as  well  as  in  the  highway,  if  he  be  not  pro¬ 
tected  by  the  special  care  of  Divine  Providence.” 

cxxii.  1. — I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me, 
Let  ns  go  into  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

Mr.  Joel  Barlow  of  Hartford,  in  New  England,  (au¬ 
thor  of  the  Advice  to  Privileged  Orders,)  meeting  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Strong,  of  the  same  place,  one  day,  asked  him 
why  he  did  not  publish  the  set  of  sermons  he  had  so 
long  promised  the  world!  “There  is  one  subject,”  re¬ 
plied  Mr.  Strong,  “  I  cannot  get  master  of.”  “  What  is 


84 


PSALM  CXXV. 


that?”  said  Mr.  Barlow.  “To  reconcile  the  profession 
of  the  Christian  religion,”  said  Mr.  §.,  “  with  non-attend¬ 
ance  on  public  worship.” 

cxxiii.  4. — The  contempt  of  the  proud. 

Demetrius,  one  of  Alexander’s  successors,  was  so 
proud  and  disdainful,  as  not  to  allow  those  who  trans¬ 
acted  business  with  him  liberty  of  speech ;  or  else  he 
treated  them  with  so  much  rudeness,  as  obliged  them 
to  quit  his  presence  in  disgust.  He  suffered  the  Athe¬ 
nian  ambassadors  to  wait  two  whole  years  before  he 
gave  them  audience  ;  and  by  the  haughtiness  of  his  be¬ 
haviour,  at  last  provoked  his  subjects  to  revolt  from  his 
authority,  and  expel  him  from  his  throne. 

cxxiv.  8. — Our  help  is  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  who  made  heaven  and  earth. 

“I  well  remember,”  says  an  eminent  minister  in 
North  Wales,  “that  when  the  Spirit  of  God  first  con¬ 
vinced  me  of  my  sin,  guilt,  and  danger,  and  of  the 
many  difficulties  and  enemies  I  must  encounter,  if  ever 
I  intended  setting  out  for  heaven,  I  was  often  to  the  last 
degree  frightened;  the  prospect  of  those  many  strong 
temptations  and  vain  allurements  to  which  my  youthful 
years  would  unavoidably  expose  me,  greatly  discour¬ 
aged  me.  And  I  often  used  to  tell  an  aged  soldier  of 
Christ,  the  first  and  only  Christian  friend  I  had  any  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  for  several  years,  that  I  wished  I  had 
borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day  like  him.  His 
usual  reply  was — ‘  That  so  long  as  I  feared,  and  was 
humbly  dependent  upon  God,  I  should  never  fall,  but 
certainly  prevail.’  I  have  found  it  so.  O,  blessed  be 
the  Lord,  that  I  can  now  raise  Up  my  Ebenezer,  and 
say,  ‘Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  upheld  me.’  ” 

cxxv.  2. — As  the  mountains  are  round  about 
Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord  is  round  about  his  people 
from  henceforth,  even  for  ever. 

A  chief  in  Eimeo,  (a  South  Sea  island)  having  em- 


PSALM  CXXVII. 


85 


braced  the  gospel,  became  an  object  of  hatred  and  ab¬ 
horrence  to  the  idolaters.  A  party  of  these  conspired 
to  kill  him,  when  he  and  a  few  other  pious  persons 
were  assembled  together  in  the  evening  for  prayer. 
The  ruffians  came  secretly  upon  them,  armed  with 
muskets,  and,  levelling  their  pieces,  were  about  to  de¬ 
stroy  the  whole  group  at  a  volley.  Their  deliverance 
was  singularly  providential :  the  marked  victims  within 
knew  nothing  of  the  lurking  assassins  without;  yet 
were  the  latter  restrained  from  executing  their  diabo¬ 
lical  purpose  by  an  influence,  which,  as  they  afterwards 
declared,  they  could  not  understand  Seized  with  sud¬ 
den  horror  at  the  deed  on  which  they  had  been  so  des¬ 
perately  bent,  they  threw  down  the  murderous  engines, 
and,  rushing  into  the  room,  confessed  their  guilt.  The 
Christians  received  them  with  so  much  kindness,  and. 
so  freely  forgave  them — thus  heaping  coals  of  fire  upon 
their  head — that  they  were  utterly  overcome,  and  went 
away,  promising  never  to  molest  them  again;  and  they 
kept  their  word. 

cxxvi.  3. — The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for 
us,  whereof  we  are  glad. 

When  the  deputation  from  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  in  1821,  visited  Eimeo,  five  of  the  deacons  of 
the  church  there,  came  to  express  their  joy  at  their  ar¬ 
rival.  The  deputation  most  heartily  returned  their 
congratulations,  by  declaring  their  wonder  and  delight 
at  beholding  what  great  things  the  Lord  had  done  for 
them.  One  of  these,  who  was  spokesman  for  his 
brethren,  said,  among  other  strong  observations,  “We 
are  brands  plucked  out  of  the  burning.  Satan  was  de¬ 
stroying,  and  casting  us,  one  after  another,  into  the 
flames  of  hell;  but  Jehovah  came  and  snatched  us  out 
of  his  hands,  and  threw  water  upon  the  fire  that  was 
consuming  us — so  we  were  saved !” 

cxxvii.  1. — Except  the  Lord  build  the  house, 
they  labour  in  vain  that  build  it. 

It  is  the  custom,  in  the  valleys  of  the  canton  of  Berne, 

8  * 


86 


PSALM  CXXIX. 


* 

when  the  father  of  a  family  builds  a  house,  and  the 
walls  are  raised  to  their  full  height,  to  request  the  min¬ 
ister  of  the  parish  to  pray  to  God  inside.  The  work¬ 
men  meet  together,  and  unite  in  thanking  the  Lord  for 
his  care  hitherto,  and  entreat  a  continuance  of  it  through 
the  more  dangerous  part  that  remains.  A  blessing 
terminates  this  pious  ceremony,  the  pastor  retires,  the 
workmen  return  to  their  labours,  and  the  noise  of  ham¬ 
mers  begins  to  be  heard  again. 

cxxviii.  6. — Thou  shalt  see  thy  children’s 
children. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Erskine’s  father’s  family  was  un¬ 
commonly  large,  consisting  of  thirty-three  children ; 
and  so  great  was  the  number  of  grandchildren,  with 
whom  this  venerable  patriarch,  for  some  time  prior  to 
his  death,  was  surrounded,  that,  according  to  tradition, 
he  could  not  recollect  them  by  face,  and  when  he  hap¬ 
pened  to  see  them,  frequently  proposed  the  friendly 
question, — “  Who  are  you,  my  little  man  1” 


cxxix.  5. — Let  them  all  be  confounded  that 
hate  Zion. 

The  disease  of  which  Herod  the  Great  died,  and  the 
misery  which  he  suffered  under  it,  plainly  showed,  that 
the  hand  of  God  was  then  in  a  signal  manner  upon 
him ;  for  not  long  after  the  murders  at  Bethlehem,  his 
distemper,  as  Josephus  informs  us,  daily  increased  in 
an  unheard-of  manner.  He  had  a  lingering  and  wast¬ 
ing  fever,  and  grievous  ulcers  in  his  entrails  and 
bowels ;  a  violent  colic,  and  insatiable  appetite ;  a  ven¬ 
omous  swelling  in  his  feet;  convulsions  in  his  nerves; 
a  perpetual  asthma,  and  offensive  breath:  rottenness 
in  his  joints  and  other  members ;  accompanied  with 
prodigious  itchings,  crawling  worms,  and  intolerable 
smell :  so  that  he  was  a  perfect  hospital  of  incurable 
distempers. 


PSALM  CXXXI. 


87 


cxxx.  4. — There  is  forgiveness  with  thee,  that 
thou  mayest  be  feared. 

One  Mr.  Davies,  a  young  man,  being  under  religious 
impressions,  opened  his  mind  to  Dr.  Owen.  In  the 
course  of  conversation,  Dr.  Owen  said,  “Young  man, 
pray,  in  what  manner  do  you  think  to  go  to  God  I” 
Mr.  Davies  replied,  “Through  the  Mediator,  sir.” 
“That  is  easily  said,”  observed  Dr.  Owen;  “but  I  as¬ 
sure  you,  it  is  another  thing  to  go  to  God  through  the 
Mediator,  than  many  who  make  use  of  the  expression 
are  aware  of.  I  myself  preached  some  years,  while  I 
had  but  very  little,  if  any,  acquaintance  with  access  to 
God  through  Christ,  until  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  visit 
me  with  a  sore  affliction,  by  which  I  was  brought  to 
the  brink  of  the  grave,  and  under  which  my  mind  was 
filed  with  horror:  but  God  was  graciously  pleased  to 
relieve  my  soul  by  a  powerful  application  of  Ps.  cxxx. 
4.  ‘But  there  is  forgiveness  with  thee,  that  thou  may¬ 
est  be  feared.’  From  this  text  I  received  special  light, 
peace,  and  comfort,  in  drawing  near  to  God  through 
the  Mediator;  and  on  this  text  I  preached  immediately 
after  my  recovery.” — Perhaps  to  this  exercise  of  mind 
we  owe  his  excellent  exposition  of  this  Psalm. 

cxxxi.  1. — Lord,  my  heart  is  not  haughty,  nor 
mine  eyes  lofty. 

If  good  men  cannot  always  use  this  language  of  Da¬ 
vid,  it  is  their  prevailing  desire  that  they  should  be  able 
to  do  so,  and  if  at  any  time  they  have  been  exalted 
above  measure,  like  Hezekiah,  they  will  humble  them¬ 
selves  for  the  pride  of  their  hearts.  “  I  was  this  day 
tempted  with  pride,”  says  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine 
in  his  diary,  “  and  a  vain  elation  of  mind,  on  the  com¬ 
posure  of  a  sermon  which  pleased  me,  and  which  I  was 
composing  for  Edinburgh  Sacrament,  on  the  20th  of 
this  month  (March  8,  1715.)  It  is  a  wonder  that  the 
Lord — he  who  beholds  the  proud  afar  off — does  not 
blast  me  in  some  visible  way,  on  this  account.  I  pray¬ 
ed  to  the  Lord  to  deliver  me  from  pride  of  gifts.  O  it 
is  a  hateful  sin.  0  Lord  keep  me  from  it,  and  help  me 


88 


PSALM  CXXXV. 


to  be  humble,  to  be  like  Christ;  and  to  preach  Christ, 
and  not  to  preach  myself.” 

cxxxii.  9. — Let  thy  priests  be  clothed  with 
righteousness  ;  and  let  thy  saints  shout  for  joy. 

“  I  hope,”  says  Dr.  Doddridge,  “  my  younger  brethren 
in  the  ministry  will  pardon  me,  if  I  entreat  their  par¬ 
ticular  attention  to  this  admonition — Not  to  give  the 
main  part  of  their  time  to  the  curiosities  of  learning, 
and  only  a  few  fragments  of  it  to  their  great  work,  the 
cure  of  souls ;  lest  they  see  cause  in  their  last  moments 
to  adopt  the  words  of  dying  Grotius,  perhaps  with  much 
more  propriety  than  he  could  use  them — ‘  I  have  lost  a 
life  in  busy  trifling.’  ” 

cxxxiii.  1. — Behold,  how  good  and  how  plea¬ 
sant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity  ! 

A  little  boy  seeing  two  nestling  birds  pecking  at  each 
other,  inquired  of  his  elder  brother  what  they  were 
doing.  “  They  are  quarrelling,”  was  the  .  answer. 
“No,”  replied  the  child,  “that  cannot  be,  they  are  bro¬ 
thers.” 

cxxxiv.  3. — The  Lord — made  heaven  and  earth. 

Alphonsus  N.,  King  of  Leon  and  Castile,  was  one  of 
the  most  learned  men  of  his  age.  He  acquired  a  pro¬ 
found  knowledge  of  astronomy,  philosophy,  and  history, 
and  composed  books  on  the  motions  of  the  heavens, 
and  the  history  of  Spain,  that  are  highly  commended. 
But  no  one  can  be  mentioned,  as  a  more  striking  proof 
that  the  wisdom  of  the  world  is  foolishness  with  God. 
So  vain,  presumptuous,  and  impious,  was  this  philoso¬ 
phical  king,  that  one  of  his  sayings  was — “If  I  had 
been  of  God’s  Privy  Council  when  he  made  the  world, 
I  would  have  advised  him  better.” 

cxxxv.  15. — The  idols  of  the  heathen  are 
silver  and  gold,  the  work  of  men’s  hands. 


PSALM  CXXXVI. 


89 


A  native  gentleman  of  India,  in  relating  his  history 
to  one  of  the  missionaries,  says — “My  father  was  offi¬ 
ciating  priest  of  a  heathen  temple,  and  was  considered, 
in  those  days,  a  superior  English  scholar;  and  by 
teaching  the  English  language  to  wealthy  natives,  real¬ 
ized  a  very  large  fortune.  At  a  very  early  period,  when 
a  mere  boy,  I  was  employed  by  my  father  to  light  the 
lamps  in  the  pagoda,  and  attend  to  the  various  things 
connected  with  the  idols.  I  hardly  remember  the  time 
when  my  mind  was  not  exercised  on  the  folly  of  idola¬ 
try.  These  things  I  thought  were  made  by  the  hand  of 
man,  can  move  only  by  man,  and  whether  treated  well 
or  ill,  are  unconscious  of  either.  Why  all  this  clean¬ 
ing,  anointing,  illuminating  1  &c.  One  evening,  these 
considerations  so  powerfully  wrought  upon  my  youth¬ 
ful  mind,  that  instead  of  placing  the  idols  according  to 
custom,  I  threw  them  from  their  pedestals,  and  left 
them  with  their  faces  in  the  dust.  My  father,  on  wit¬ 
nessing  what  I  had  done,  chastised  me  so  severely,  as 
to  leave  me  almost  dead.  I  reasoned  with  him,  that  if 
they  could  not  get  up  out  of  the  dust,  they  were  not 
able  to  do  what  I  could ;  and  that  instead  of  being  wor¬ 
shipped  as  gods,  they  deserved  to  lie  in  the  dust,  where 
I  had  thrown  them.  He  was  implacable  and  vowed  to 
disinherit  me,  and  as  the  first  step  to  it,  sent  me  away 
from  his  house.  He  relented  on  his  death-bed,  and  left 
me  all  his  wealth.” 

cxxxvi.  1. — 0  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord;  for 
he  is  good :  for  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 

“This  day,  August  8, 1722,”  writes  Ebenezer  Erskine 
in  his  diary,  “I  could  not  think  there  was  the  least 
spark  of  grace  or  good  in  me,  or  about  me ;  and  I  was 
thinking  that  I  should  never  see  the  Lord  any  more. 
But  0  the  trophies  and  triumphs  of  free  grace ;  for  this 
night  in  family  prayer  the  Lord  did  begin  to  loose  my 
bonds,  and  both  heart  and  tongue  were  loosed  together, 
to  my  surprise;  and  it  was  ordered  in  providence,  that, 
in  my  ordinary  in  secret  this  night,  I  did  sing  Psalm 
cxxxvi.,  where  twenty-six  times  it  is  repeated,  ‘  His 
grace  and  mercy  never  faileth ;’  and  0,  the  repetition 


90 


PSALM  CXXXVIII. 


of  this  word  at  every  other  line  was  sweet.  I  began  to 
hope  that  I  shall  sing  it  as  a  new  song  through  eternity, 
that  ‘  His  grace  never  faileth,  his  mercy  endureth  for 
ever.’  And  I  think  that  none  in  heaven  will  have  more 
occasion  to  raise  their  hallelujahs  of  praise  to  free 
grace  than  I  have.” 

cxxxvii.  5,  6. — If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem, 
let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning. — If  I  do 
not  remember  thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  my  mouth  ;  if  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem 
above  my  chief  joy. 

When  Bishop  Beveridge  was  on  his  death-bed,  he 
did  not  know  any  of  his  friends  or  connections.  A 
minister  with  whom  he  had  been  well  acquainted, 
visited  him.  When  conducted  into  his  room,  he  said, 
“  Bishop  Beveridge,  do  you  know  me  1”  “  Who  are 
you"!”  said  the  bishop.  Being  told  who  the  minister 
was,  he  said  that  he  did  not  know  him.  Another  friend 
came,  who  had  been  equally  well  known,  and  accosted 
him  in  a  similar  manner;  to  whom  he  made  a  similar 
reply.  His  wife  then  came  to  his  bed-side,  and  asked 
him  if  he  knew  her.  “Who  are  you?”  said  he. 
Being  told  she  was  his  wife,  he  said  he  did  not  know 
her.  “Well,”  said  one,  “Bishop  Beveridge,  do  you 
know  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?” — “Jesus  Christ!”  said 
he,  reviving,  as  if  the  name  had  upon  him  the  influence 
of  a  charm,  “  O,  yes !  I  have  known  Him  these  forty 
years.  Precious  Saviour !  He  is  my  only  hope  !” 

cxxxviii.  7. — Though  I  walk  in  the  midst  of 
trouble,  thou  wilt  revive  me. 

Mr.  Patrick  Macwarth,  who  lived  in  the  west  of 
Scotland,  whose  heart  the  Lord,  in  a  remarkable  way, 
opened,  was,  after  his  conversion,  in  such  a  frame,  so 
affected  with  the  discoveries  of  the  love  of  God,  and  of 
the  blessedness  of  the  life  to  come,  that  for  some  months 
together  he  seldom  slept,  being  so  taken  up  in  wonder- 


PSALM  CXL. 


91 


ing  at  the  kindness  of  his  Redeemer.  His  life  was  dis¬ 
tinguished  for  tenderness  of  walk,  and  near  commu¬ 
nion  with  God.  One  day,  after  the  death  of  his  son, 
who  was  suddenly  taken  away,  he  retired  alone  for  se¬ 
veral  hours,  and  afterwards  appeared  so  remarkably 
cheerful,  that  inquiry  was  made  why  he  looked  so 
cheerful  in  a  time  of  such  affliction.  He  replied,  “  He 
had  got  that  in  his  retirement  with  the  Lord,  which,  to 
have  it  afterwards  renewed,  he  would  gladly  lose  a  son 
every  day.” 

cxxxix.  20. — Thine  enemies  take  thy  name  in 
vain. 

Mr.  White,  a  substantial  tradesman  of  London,  had 
been  imprisoned  and  fined  for  non-conformity.  In  the 
course  of  his  examination,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  not 
being  pleased  with  an  answer  given,  profanely  swore 
by  the  holy  name  of  God.  This  did  not  pass  unnoticed 
by  the  good  puritan,  who  reproved  his  lordship  in  the 
following  delicate  and  modest  manner: — “I  would 
speak  a  word,  which  I  am  sure  will  offend,  and  yet  I 
must  speak  it.  I  heard  the  name  of  God  taken  in  vain ; 
if  I  had  done  it,  it  had  been  a  greater  offence  than  that 
which  I  stand  here  for.” 

cxl.  7. — Thou  hast  covered  my  head  in  the 
day  of  battle. 

“A  short  time  since,”  says  one,  “I  had  an  opportu¬ 
nity  of  seeing  a  young  man  who  mingled  in  the  sad 
scene  at  Waterloo.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had  seen 
such  a  sight;  and  at  the  approach  of  so  vast  a  number 
of  men  and  horses,  armed  with  the  instruments  of  death, 
he  was  naturally  filled  with  consternation  and  fear. 
Calling  to  recollection  what  his  pious  father  had  often 
told  him,  to  seek  the  protection  of  God,  who  is  a  pre¬ 
sent  help  in  the  hour  of  danger,  he  retired  to  a  private 
place,  and  implored  the  protection  of  the  Almighty. 
A  very  wicked  lieutenant,  who  was  in  the  regiment,  the 

7th - ,  overheard  him,  and  laughing,  said,  ‘There  is 

no  danger  of  you  being  killed  to-day,’  and  treated  the 


92 


PSALM  CXLIII. 


duty  of  prayer  in  a  very  light  manner.  They  went 
both  to  the  field,  where,  in  a  short  time,  they  were 
called  to  engage ;  and  the  second  volley  from  the  ene¬ 
my  separated  the  lieutenant’s  head  from  his  body.” 
How  much  better  to  have  imitated  the  conduct  of  the 
young  man,  in  committing  himself  to  God’s  protection, 
who  could  either  have  preserved  him  unhurt,  or-pre- 
pared  him  by  his  grace  for  sudden  death. 

cxli.  5. — ’Let  the  righteous  smite  me,  it  shall  be 
a  kindness ;  and  let  him  reprove  me,  it  shall  be 
an  excellent  oil,  which  shall  not  break  my  head. 

It  is  related  in  the  “  Life  of  Mrs.  Savage,”*  an  excel¬ 
lent  sister  of  the  Rev.  Matthew  Henry,  that  when  some 
respectable  pious  gentlemen  were  one  Sabbath  evening 
assembled  together,  they  unhappily  engaged  in  conver¬ 
sation  unsuitable  to  the  day.  Betty  Parsons,  a  good  old 
woman,  overhearing  them,  said,  “  Sirs,  you  are  making 
work  for  repentance.”  This  short  and  seasonable  re¬ 
buke  restrained  them,  and  turned  their  conversation 
into  a  better  channel. 

cxlii.  7. — Bring  my  soul  out  of  prison,  that  I 
may  praise  thy  name. 

As  the  advancement  of  the  divine  glory  should  be 
the  chief  end  of  all  our  actions,  so  it  will  be  found  the 
most  powerful  plea  in  prayer. — A  man  once  complained 
to  his  minister,  that  he  had  prayed  for  a  whole  year 
that  he  might  enjoy  the  comforts  of  religion,  but  found 
no  answer  to  his  prayers.  His  minister  replied,  “Go 
home  now  and  pray,  ‘  Father,  glorify  thyself.’  ” 

cxliii.  9. — Deliver  me,  O  Lord,  from  mine  ene¬ 
mies  :  I  flee  unto  thee  to  hide  me. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden,  when  in  his 
camp  before  Werben,  had  been  alone,  at  one  time,  in 

*  No.  179  of  the  publications  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication. 


PSALM  CXLV. 


93 


the  cabinet  of  his  pavilion  some  hours  together,  and 
none  of  his  attendants  at  these  seasons  durst  interrupt 
him.  At  length,  however,  a  favourite  of  his  having 
some  important  matter  to  tell  him,  came  softly  to  the 
door,  and,  looking  in,  beheld  the  king  very  devoutly  on 
his  knees  at  prayer.  Fearing  to  molest  him  in  that  ex¬ 
ercise,  he  was  about  to  withdraw  his  head,  when  the 
’  king  espied  him,  and  bidding  him  come  in,  said,  “  Thou 
wonderest  to  see  me  in  this  posture,  since  I  have  so 
many  thousands  of  subjects  to  pray  for  me;  but  I  tell 
thee,  that  no  man  has  more  need  to  pray  for  himself 
than  he,  who,  being  to  render  an  account  of  his  actions 
to  none  but  God,  is,  for  that  reason,  more  closely  as¬ 
saulted  by  the  devil  than  all  other  men  besides.” 

cxliv.  12. — That  our  sons  may  be  as  plants 
grown  up  in  their  youth. 

A  Campanian  lady,  who  was  very  rich,  and  fond  of 
pomp  and  show,  in  a  visit  to  Cornelia,  a  Roman  lady, 
having  displayed  her  diamonds,  pearls,  and  richest 
jewels,  earnestly  desired  Cornelia  to  let  her  see  her 
jewels  also.  This  amiable  lady  diverted  the  conversa¬ 
tion  to  another  subject,  till  the  return  of  her  sons  from 
the  public  schools.  When  they  entered  their  mother’s 
apartments,  she  said  to  her  visitor,  pointing  to  them, 
“These  are  my  jewels,  and  the  only  ornaments  I  ad¬ 
mire  and  such  ornaments,  which  are  the  strength  and 
support  of  society,  add  a  brighter  lustre  to  the  fair  than 
all  the  jewels  of  the  east. 

cxlv.  4. — One  generation  shall  praise  thy 
works  to  another,  and  shall  declare  thy  mighty 
^  acts.  t 

The  mother  of  a  Sabbath  school  boy,  about  thirteen 
years  of  age,  who  had  just  lost  her  husband,  over¬ 
whelmed  with  grief,  exclaimed,  “  0,  how  shall  we  miss 
your  father  at  morning  and  evening  prayer!” — “Yes, 
mother,”  said  the  boy, “we  shall  miss  him;  but  for  all 
that,  we  must  not  forget  nor  omit  it,  and  if  you  will  per¬ 
mit  me,  I  will  try.”  The  excellent  boy  continued  to 


94 


PSALM  CXLVI. 


officiate  as  leader  in  the  devotional  execises  of  the 
family. 

cxlvi.  7. — Which  giveth  food  to  the  hungry. 

“  Being  detained,”  says  General  Burn,  “  on  board  the 
Cormorant  at  Cowes,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  for  nearly  a 
month,  by  strong  westerly  winds,  I  grew  weary,  and 
being  anxious  to  know  something  about  the  Royal  George, 
I  set  off  early  one  fine  morning  in  the  passage-boat  for 
Portsmouth,  purposely  to  inquire  at  the  Admiral’s  office 
if  she  was  soon  expected  in  port.  I  fully  intended  to 
have  returned  to  Cowes  by  the  first  boat,  as  I  had  just 
money  enough  left  for  that  purpose ;  but  to  my  great 
sorrow,  about  noon  it  began  to  blow  a  most  violent 
gale,  so  that  none  of  the  boats  would  venture  out  for 
several  days.  Never  was  I  placed  in  a  more  distress¬ 
ing  situation.  A  perfect  stranger  in  Portsmouth,  with 
only  a  few  pence  in  my  pocket,  I  continued  walking 
round  and  round  the  ramparts  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
day,  till  I  was  completely  worn  out  with  fatigue  and 
hunger,  that  the  violence  of  the  wind  almost  drove  me 
off  my  legs.  Night  was  approaching;  finding  it  im¬ 
possible  to  continue  in  this  state  much  longer,  and  be¬ 
ing  well  nigh  distracted,  I  began  to  devise  schemes 
where  I  should  rest,  and  I  should  satisfy  craving  appe¬ 
tite.  At  last  I  fixed  on  the  following  expedient: — Hav¬ 
ing  a  pair  of  silver  buckles  on  my  shoes,  the  gift  of  an 
affectionate  sister,  I  determined,  though  grieved  at  the 
deed,  to  take  them  to  some  Jew  in  the  town,  and  ex¬ 
change  them  for  metal  ones,  in  hope  that  the  overplus 
would  procure  me  a  lodging,  and  purchase  some  food. 
Just  as  I  was  stepping  off  the  rampart  to  put  my  plan 
into  execution,  I  was  accosted  in  a  very  friendly  man¬ 
ner  by  an  old  acquaintance,  whcushook  me  by  the  hand, 
and  asked  me  if  I  had  dined.  When  I  answered  in  the 
negative,  he  replied,  ‘ Then  come  along  with  me;  we 
are  just  in  time.’  By  this  friend  I  was  plentifully  sup¬ 
plied  for  a  few  days,  till  the  weather  permitted  me  to 
return  to  my  ship  at  Cowes.  Thus  the  same  compas¬ 
sionate  God  who  feeds  the  ravens  when  they  cry,  was 
at  no  loss  to  find  means  to  supply  the  wants  of  an  un¬ 
grateful  mortal,  who  did  not  then  seek  him  by  prayer, 


PSALM  CXLVIII. 


95 


nor  acknowledge  the  benefit  so  seasonably  bestowed ; 
but  having  been  since  several  times  at  Portsmouth,  I 
have  walked  round  the  ramparts  with  a  glad  heart,  in 
the  recollection  of  this  mercy,  praising  the  Lord  under 
a  feeling  sense  of  his  goodness.” 

cxlvii.  16. — He  giveth  snow  like  wool. 

Mr.  Clark,  a  pious  minister,  during  a  fall  of  snow, 
once  walked  from  Frome  to  Bristol,  a  distance  of  twenty- 
four  miles,  to  preach :  after  which,  he  wrote  the  follow¬ 
ing  lines  to  a  friend : — 

“  On  Friday  last,  as  well  you  know, 

I  went  away  in  flakes  of  snow : 

I  took  the  road  the  horses  trod, 

And  travelled  on  to  serve  my  God; 

And  though  I  had  not  horse’s  strength, 

Yet  safely  reached  the  end  at  length. 

May  I  so  safely  reach  the  shore 
Where  storms  and  tempests  are  no  more ! 

What  though  we  meet  with,  on  the  road, 

Some  little  things  that  incommode, 

The  end  will  more  than  overpay, 

For  all  the  troubles  of  the  way !” 

cxlviii.  13. — Let  them  praise  the  name  of  the 
Lord  ;  for  his  name  alone  is  excellent. 

“I  remember,”  says  Mr.  Hervey,  “a  very  ingenious 
gentleman  once  showed  me  a  composition  in  manu¬ 
script,  which  he  intended  for  the  press,  and  asked  my 
opinion:  it  was  moral,  it  was  delicate,  it  was  highly 
finished ;  but  I  ventured  to  tell  him  there  was  one  thing 
awanting,  the  name  and  merits  of  the  divinely  excellent 
Jesus,  without  which  I  feared  the  God  of  heaven  would 
not  accompany  it  with  his  grace,  and  without  which  I 
was  sure  the  enemy  of  souls  would  laugh  it  to  scorn. — 
The  gentleman  seemed  to  be  struck  with  surprise. 
‘The  name  of  Jesus!’  he  replied;  ‘this  single  circum¬ 
stance  would  frustrate  all  my  expectations,  would  in¬ 
fallibly  obstruct  the  sale,  and  make  readers  of  refine¬ 
ment  throw  it  aside  with  disdain.’  “ I  can  never  think,” 


96 


PSALM  CL. 


adds  Mr.  Hervey,  “the  spread  of  our  performances  will 
be  obstructed  by  pleasing  him  who  has  all  hearts  and 
events  in  his  sovereign  hand.”  He  further  adds,  on 
publishing  Theron  and  Aspasio — “I  am  willing  to  put 
the  matter  to  a  trial,  and  myself  to  practise  the  advice 
I  gave.  So  far  from  secreting  the  amiable  and  majes¬ 
tic  names  of  Jesus,  and  the  adorable  Trinity,  that  I 
have  printed  them  in  grand  and  conspicuous  capitals ; 
that  all  the  world  may  see,  I  look  upon  it  as  my  high¬ 
est  honour  to  acknowledge,  to  venerate,  to  magnify  my 
God  and  Saviour;  and  if  he  has  no  power  over  the 
hearts  of  men,  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  events  of  the 
world — if  acceptance  and  success  are  none  of  his  gifts, 
have  no  dependence  on  his  smile,  then  I  am  content, 
perfectly  content,  to  be  without  them.” 

cxlix.  5. — Let  the  saints  be  joyful  in  glory : 
let  them  sing  aloud  upon  their  beds. 

A  pious  little  boy  who  attended  a  Sabbath  school,  a 
few  hours  before  his  death,  broke  out  into  singing,  and 
sung  so  loud,  as  to  cause  his  mother  to  inquire  what 
he  was  doing.  “I  am  singing  my  sister’s  favourite 
hymn,  mother.”  “But  why,  my  dear,  so  loud?” — 
“Why!”  said  he,  with  peculiar  emphasis,  “because  I 
am  so  happy.”  Just  before  his  death,  with  uplifted 
hands,  he  exclaimed,  “  Father !  Father !  take  me,  Fa¬ 
ther  !”  His  parent  went  to  lift  him  up,  when,  with  a 
smile,  he  said,  “I  did  not  call  you,  father;  but  I  was 
calling  to  my  heavenly  Father  to  take  me ;  I  shall  soon 
be  with  him ;”  and  then  expired. 

cl.  6. — Let  every  thing  that  hath  breath  praise 
the  Lord.  Praise  ye  the  Lord. 

Mr.  John  Jane  way,  on  his  death-bed,  said,  “  Come, 
help  me  with  praises,  all  is  too  little:  come,  help  me, 
0  ye  glorious  and  mighty  angels,  who  are  so  well  skill¬ 
ed  in  this  heavenly  work  of  praise.  Praise  him,  all  ye 
creatures  upon  the  earth ;  let  every  thing  that  hath  be¬ 
ing  help  me  to  praise  him.  Hallelujah,  hallelujah, 
hallelujah !  Praise  is  now  my  work,  and  I  shall  be  en¬ 
gaged  in  that  sweet  employment  for  ever.” 


PROVERBS  II. 


97 


PROVERBS. 

Chaij.  i.  33. — Whoso  hearkeneth  unto  me  shall 
dwell  safely,  and  shall  be  quiet  from  fear  of  evil. 

An  old  man,  a  priest  in  one  of  the  South  Sea  Islands, 
who  had  lived  in  affluence  under  the  idolatrous  system, 
having  been  converted  to  Christianity,  became  com¬ 
paratively  poor.  Being  asked,  afterwards,  whether  he 
did  not  repent  of  having  embraced  a  religion  which  had 
cost  him  so  much,  he  calmly  replied,  “  O,  no ! — while  I 
was  an  idolater  and  a  priest,  I  could  never  lie  down  to 
sleep  in  peace.  I  was  always  in  fear  of  being  robbed 
or  murdered  before  morning.  Often  have  I  awoke  in 
the  night,  trembling  with  horror;  and  then  I  have 
sprung  up  and  run  among  the  bushes  to  hide  myself, 
lest  any  one  should  come  to  kill  me.  Now  I  go  to  rest 
without  suspicion;  I  sleep  soundly,  and  never  run  into 
the  bush  for  safety,  because  I  know  no  danger.  I 
might  lie  on  my  mat  till  it  rotted  beneath  me,  before 
any  one  would  hurt  me,  by  night  or  by  day.  I  am 
happy;  and  therefore  I  do  not  repent  of  what  I  have 
done.” 

ii.  4. — If  thou  seekest  for  her  as  silver,  and 
searchest  for  her  as  for  hid  treasure. 

Very  near  Colombo  is  a  school  built  in  a  beautiful 
and  romantic  situation,  on  the  high  bank  of  a  noble 
river,  across  which  a  bridge  of  boats  had  recently  been 
thrown  for  the  convenience  of  the  public.  A  number 
of  fine  little  boys  residing  on  the  side  of  the  river,  oppo¬ 
site  the  school,  were  exceedingly  anxious  to  enjoy  the 
benefits  of  the  instruction  which  it  afforded,  but  were 
Utterly  unable,  from  their  poverty,  to  pay  the  toll  for 
passing  this  bridge  four  times  every  day,  to  and  from 
school.  In  removing  this  serious  difficulty,  the  little 
fellows  showed  at  once  their  eagerness  to  obtain  in- 

9 


98 


PKOVERBS  IV 


struction,  and  their  native  ingenuity.  Wearing  only  a 
light  cloth  around  them,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  they  were  accustomed  to  assemble  on  the 
bank  in  the  morning,  and  the  larger  boys  binding  up 
the  books  of  the  smaller  ones,  which  they  had  home 
with  them  to  learn  their  tasks,  to  tie  them  on  the  back 
of  their  heads,  and  swim  over,  the  little  ones  following 
them.  And  this  inconvenience  they  constantly  en- 
countered  rather  than  be  absent  from  school. 

iii.  14. — The  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than 
the  merchandise  of  silver,  and  the  gain  thereof 
than  fine  gold. 

Mr.  John  Eliot  was  once  on  a  visit  to  a  merchant, 
and  finding  him  in  his  counting-house,  where  he  saw 
books  of  business  on  the  table,  and  all  his  books  of  de¬ 
votion  on  the  shelf,  he  said  to  him,  “  sir,  here  is  earth 
on  the  table,  and  heaven  on  the  shelf.  Pray  don’t  think 
so  much  of  the  table  as  altogether  to  forget  the  shelf.” 

iv.  4. — Keep  thy  heart  with  all  diligence  :  for 
out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life. 

The  Rev.  John  Flavel  being  in  London  in  1672,  his 
old  bookseller,  Mr.  Boulter,  gave  him  the  following  re¬ 
lation : — “That  some  time  before,  a  young  gentleman 
came  into  his  shop,  to  inquire  for  some  play-books. 
He  told  him  he  had  none,  but  showed  him  Mr.  Flavel’s 
small  treatise  of  Keeping  the  Heart,  entreated  him  to 
read  it,  and  assured  him  it  would  do  him  more  good 
than  any  play-book.  The  gentleman  read  the  title,  and 
glancing  upon  several  pages  here  and  there,  broke  out 
into  profane  expressions.  Mr.  Boulter  begged  him  to 
buy  and  read  it,  and  told  him  he  had  no  reason  to  cen¬ 
sure  it  so  severely.  At  last  he  bought  it,  but  told  him 
he  would  not  read  it.  *  What  will  you  do  with  it  then  V 
said  the  bookseller.  ‘ I  will  tear  and  burn  it.’  ‘Then/ 
said  Mr.  B.,  ‘you  shall  not  have  it.’  Upon  this  the 
gentleman  promised  to  read  it,  and  Mr.  B.  told  him,  if 
he  disliked  it  upon  reading,  he  would  return  him  his 


PROVERBS  VI. 


99 


money.  About  a  month  after  this,  the  gentleman  came 
to  the  shop  again,  and  with  a  serious  countenance  thus 
addressed  Mr.  B.:  ‘Sir,  I  most  heartily  thank  you  for 
putting  this  book  into  my  hands.  I  bless  God  that 
moved  you  to  do  it, — it  hath  saved  my  soul:  blessed 
be  God  that  ever  I  came  into  your  shop.’  He  then 
bought  a  hundred  of  the  books,  and  told  him  he  would 
give  them  to  the  poor  who  could  not  buy  them.” 

v.  11. — How  have  I  hated  instruction,  and  my 
heart  despised  reproof! 

“During  my  residence  in  India,”  says  one,  “I  fre¬ 
quently  visited  a  British  soldier,  who  was  under  sen¬ 
tence  of  death,  for  having,  when  half  intoxicated,  wan¬ 
tonly  shot  a  black  man.  In  some  of  my  visits  to  the 
jail,  a  number  of  other  prisoners  came  and  sat  down 
with  this  man,  to  listen  to  a  word  of  exhortation.  In 
one  instance,  I  spoke  to  them  particularly  on  the  de¬ 
sirableness  of  studying  the  Bible. — ‘  Have  any  of  you 
a  Bible?’  I  inquired; — they  answered,  ‘ No.’  ‘Have 
any  of  you  ever  possessed  a  Bible?’ — a  pause  ensued. 
At  last  the  murderer  broke  silence,  and  amidst  sobs 
and  tears  confessed  that  he  once  had  a  Bible :  ‘  But  O,’ 
said  he,  ‘  I  sold  it  for  drink.  It  was  the  companion  of 
my  youth.  I  brought  it  with  me  from  my  native  land, 
and  have  since  sold  it  for  drink  !  O,  if  I  had  listened 
to  my  Bible,  I  should  not  have  been  here.’  ” 

vi.  20. — Forsake  not  the  law  of  thy  mother. 

“  When  I  was  a  little  child,”  said  a  good  man,  “  my 
mother  used  to  bid  me  kneel  beside  her,  and  place  her 
hand  upon  my  head  while  she  prayed.  Before  I  was 
old  enough  to  know  her  worth,  she  died,  and  I  was  left 
much  to  my  own  guidance.  Like  others,  I  was  inclined 
to  evil  passions,  but  often  felt  myself  checked,  and,  as 
it  were,  drawn  back  by  the  soft  hand  on  my  head. 
When  I  was  a  young  man,  I  travelled  in  foreign  lands, 
and  was  exposed  to  many  temptations:  but  when  I 
would  have  yielded,  that  same  hand  was  upon  my 
head,  and  I  was  saved.  I  seemed  to  feel  its  pressure 
as  in  the  days  of  my  happy  infancy,  and  sometimes 


100 


PROVERBS  IX. 


there  came  with  it  a  voice  in  my  heart, — a  voice  that 
must  be  obeyed, — ‘0,  do  not  this  wickedness,  my  son, 
nor  sin  against  thy  God.’  ” 

vii.  27. — Her  house  is  the  way  to  hell,  going 
down  to  the  chambers  of  death. 

A  young  man,  on  reaching  the  door  of  a  theatre, 
overheard  one  of  the  door-keepers  calling  out,  “  This  is 
the  way  to  the  pit.”  Having  had  some  instruction  in 
the  word  of  God  in  early  life,  he  interpreted  what  the 
man  said,  that  the  employments  of  the  theatre  led  to 
hell.  The  thought  haunted  him,  made  him  cease  fre¬ 
quenting  such  amusements ;  he  became  attentive  to  the 
concerns  of  his  soul,  and  was  afterwards  a  preacher 
of  the  gospel. 

viii.  15. — By  me  kings  reign,  and  princes 
decree  justice. 

The  Bible  is  the  foundation  of  all  good  government, 
as  it  instructs  rulers  and  subjects  in  their  respective 
duties.  A  French  lady  once  said  to  Lord  Chesterfield, 
that  she  thought  the  Parliament  of  England  consisted 
of  five  or  six  hundred  of  the  best  informed  and  most 
sensible  men  in  the  kingdom.  “True,  Madam,  they 
are  generally  supposed  to  be  so.”  “  What  then,  my 
lord,  can  be  the  reason  that  they  tolerate  so  great  an 
absurdity  as  the  Christian  religion1?”  “I  suppose,  Ma¬ 
dam,”  replied  his  lordship,  “it  is  because  they  have  not 
been  able  to  substitute  any  thing  better  in  its  stead; 
when  they  can,  I  do  not  doubt  but  in  their  wisdom  they 
will  readily  adopt  it.” 

ix.  13. — A  foolish  woman  is  clamorous. 

A  short  time  since,  a  mechanic  at  Winford,  near 
Middlewick,  being  ill,  and  not  able  to  attend  his  work 
as  usual,  his  wife  reproached  him  bitterly;  and  in  the 
course  of  the  altercation  that  ensued,  worked  herself 
into  a  furious  passion,  venting  the  most  horrible  and 
blasphemous  imprecations  on  the  poor  man.  In  the 


PROVERBS  XI. 


101 


midst  of  her  frenzy,  she  suddenly  lost  the  use  of  her 
sight  and  speech,  became  almost  completely  paralyzed, 
and  died  in  a  few  hours  afterwards. 

x.  23. — It  is  as  sport  to  a  fool  to  do  mischief. 

Some  years  ago,  at  a  place  near  Penzance,  some  men 
and  boys,  accompanied  by  two  young  women,  having 
fastened  a  bullock’s  horn  to  the  tail  of  a  dog,  turned  the 
affrighted  animal  loose,  and  followed  with  brutal  exul¬ 
tation.  The  dog,  pursued  by  its  savage  tormentors,  ran 
down  a  lane,  when  meeting  a  cart,  drawn  by  two  horses, 
laden  with  coals,  the  horses  took  fright ;  the  driver,  who 
was  sitting  on  the  shafts  of  the  cart,  was  thrown  off, 
and  the  wheels  passing  over  his  head,  he  was  killed  on 
the  spot.  The  persons  who  had  occasioned  this  me¬ 
lancholy  accident  immediately  suspended  their  chase 
of  the  dog,  and  the  young  women,  on  coming  up,  found 
that  the  lad  just  killed,  was  their  brother.  We  shall  not 
attempt  to  describe  their  feelings.  The  deceased  was 
about  seventeen  years  of  age. 

xi.  24. — There  is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  in- 
creaseth. 

“When  I  consider  my  earthly-mindedness,”  says  the 
late  Mr.  Brown  of  Haddington,  “I  admire  the  almighty 
grace  of  God,  in  so  disposing  my  heart,  that  it  has  been 
my  care  rather  to  manage  frugally  what  God  provided 
for  me,  than  greedily  to  grasp  at  more.  I  have  looked 
upon  it  also  as  a  gracious  over-ruling  of  my  mind,  that 
though  I  have  often  grudged  paying  a  penny  or  two  for 
a  trifle,  the  Lord  hath  enabled  me  cheerfully  to  bestow 
as  many  pounds  for  pious  purposes;  and,  owing  to  a 
kind  Providence,  my  wealth,  instead  of  being  dimin¬ 
ished,  by  this  means  is  much  increased.  From  experi¬ 
ence,  I  can  testify,  that  liberality  to  the  Lord  is  one  of 
the  most  effectual  means  of  making  one  rich: — ‘There 
is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  jncreaseth ;  and  there  is  that 
withholdeth  more  than  is  meet,  and  it  tendeth  to  po 
verty.’  ” 


9* 


102 


PROVERBS  XIII. 


xii.  12. — A  righteous  man  regardeth  the  life 
of  his  beast. 

The  Rev.  Jonathan  Scott  never  neglected  his  horse 
at  home  or  abroad;  nor  would  he,  either  from  inatten¬ 
tion  or  false  delicacy,  confide,  without  inspection,  in 
the  care  of  any  man.  He  has  been  known,  at  the 
house  of  a  friend,  when  he  has  thought  his  beast  in 
any  way  neglected,  to  strip  and  thoroughly  clean  him 
with  his  own  hands — administering  at  once  to  the  com¬ 
fort  of  his  horse,  and  reproof  to  the  servant  of  his 
friend — and  even  in  his  prayers  he  was  accustomed, 
especially  in  his  journeys,  to  pray  for  the  strength  and 
support  of  his  animal,  as  addressing  a  God  whose  care 
and  providence  extended  to  all  his  creatures. 

xiii.  24. — He  that  spareth  his  rod  hateth  his 
son :  but  he  that  loveth  him,  chasteneth  him  be¬ 
times. 

“A  child,”  says  Mr.  Abbott  of  America,  “a  short 
time  since  was  taken  ill  with  that  dangerous  disorder, 
the  croup.  It  was  a  child  most  ardently  beloved,  and 
ordinarily  very  obedient.  But  in  this  state  of  uneasi¬ 
ness  and  pain,  he  refused  to  take  the  medicine  which 
it  was  needful  without  delay  to  administer.  The  father 
finding  him  resolute,  immediately  punished  his  sick 
and  suffering  son.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  fear¬ 
ing  that  his  son  might  soon  die,  it  must  have  been  a 
most  severe  trial  to  the  father;  but  the  consequence 
was,  that  the  child  was  taught  that  sickness  was  no  ex¬ 
cuse  for  disobedience;  and  while  his  sickness  con¬ 
tinued,  he  promptly  took  whatever  medicine  was  pre¬ 
scribed,  and  was  patient  and  submissive.  Soon  the 
child  was  well.  Does  any  one  say  that  this  was  cruel? 
It  was  one  of  the  noblest  acts  of  kindness  which  could 
have  been  performed.  If  the  father  had  shrunk  from 
duty  here,  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  life  of 
the  child  would  have  been  the  forfeit.” 


PROVERBS  XVI. 


103 


xiv.  13. — Even  in  laughter  the  heart  is  sor¬ 
rowful  ;  and  the  end  of  that  mirth  is  heaviness. 

A  French  physician  was  once  consulted  by  a  person 
who  was  subject  to  most  gloomy  fits  of  melancholy. 
He  advised  his  patient  to  mix  in  scenes  of  gaiety,  and 
particularly  to  frequent  the  Italian  theatre ;  and  added, 
‘‘  If  Carline  does  not  expel  your  gloomy  complaint,  your 
case  must  be  desperate  indeed.”  The  reply  of  the  pa¬ 
tient  is  worthy  the  attention  of  all  those  who  frequent 
such  places  in  search  of  happiness,  as  it  shows  the  un¬ 
fitness  and  insufficiency  of  these  amusements.  “Alas! 
sir,  I  am  Carline ;  and  while  I  divert  all  Paris  with 
mirth,  and  make  them  almost  die  with  laughter,  I  my¬ 
self  am  dying  with  melancholy  and  chagrin.” 

xv.  16. — Better  is  little  with  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  than  great  treasure  and  trouble  therewith. 

A  missionary  in  India  says,  “I  rode  to  Nallamaram, 
and  saw  some  people  of  the  congregation  there,  together 
with  the  catechist.  The  clothes  of  one  of  the  women 
were  rather  dirty,  and  I  asked  her  about  it.  ‘  Sir/  said 
she,  ‘  I  am  a  poor  woman,  and  have  only  this  single 
dress.’  ‘  Well,  have  you  always  been  so  poorl’  ‘No, 
I  had  some  money  and  jewels,  but  a  year  ago  the  Ma- 
ravers  (thieves)  came  and  robbed  me  of  all.  They 
told  me/  she  said,  ‘If  you  will  return  to  heathenism, 
we  shall  restore  to  you  everything.’  ‘Well,  why  did 
you  not  follow  their  advice!  Now  you  are  a  poor 
Christian.’  ‘  0,  sir/  she  replied,  ‘  I  would  rather  be  a 
poor  Christian  than  a  rich  heathen.  Now  I  can  say 
respecting  my  stolen  property,  ‘  The  Lord  gave  it,  and 
the  Lord  hath  taken  it  again.’  ” 

xvi.  19. — Better  it  is  to  be  of  an  humble  spirit 
with  the  lowly,  than  to  divid'e  the  spoil  with  the 
proud. 

A  French  writer  remarks,  that  “  the  modest  deport¬ 
ment  of  those  who  are  truly  wise,  when  contrasted  with 


104 


PROVERBS  XVIII. 


the  assuming  air  of  the  young  and  ignorant,  may  he 
compared  to  the  different  appearance  of  wheat,  which, 
while  its  ear  is  empty,  holds  up  its  head  proudly,  but 
as  soon  as  it  is  filled  with  grain,  bends  modestly  down, 
and  withdraws  from  observation.” 

xvii.  17. — A  friend  loveth  at  all  times  ;  and  a 
brother  is  born  for  adversity. 

When  Socrates  was  building  a  house  for  himself  at 
Athens,  being  asked  by  one  who  observed  the  littleness 
of  the  design,  why  a  man  so  eminent  should  not  have 
an  abode  more  suitable  to  his  dignity;  he  replied, 
that  he  should  think  himself  sufficiently  accommodated 
if  he  should  see  that  narrow  habitation  filled  with  real 
friends.  Such  was  the  opinion  of  this  great  master  of 
human  nature,  concerning  the  unfrequency  of  such  a 
union  of  minds  as  might  deserve  the  name  of  friend¬ 
ship  ;  that  among  the  multitudes  whom  vanity,  or  cu¬ 
riosity,  civility,  or  veneration  brought  around  him,  he 
did  not  expect  that  very  spacious  apartments  would  be 
necessary  to  contain  all  who  should  regard  him  with 
sincere  kindness,  or  adhere  to  him  with  steady  fidelity. 

xviii.  4. — The  words  of  a  man’s  mouth  are  as 
deep  waters,  and  the  well-spring  of  wisdom  as  a 
flowing  brook. 

“For  my  part,”  says  Mr.  Hervey,  “when  Christ  and 
his  righteousness  are  the  subject  of  conference,  I  know 
not  how  to  complain  of  poverty.  I  feel  no  weariness ; 
but  could  rather  delight  to  talk  of  them  without  ceasing. 
— Would  not  you  expect  to  hear  of  engagements  and 
victories  from  a  soldier  !  Would  any  be  surprised  to 
find  a  merchant  discoursing  of  foreign  affairs,  or  can¬ 
vassing  the  state  of  trade!  Why,  then,  should  not  the 
agents  for  the  court  of  heaven  treat  of  heavenly  things! 
Why  should  not  their  whole  conversation  savour  of 
their  calling!  Why  should  they  be  one  thing  when 
they  bend  the  knee  or  speak  from  the  pulpit,  and  quite 
a  different  one  when  they  converse  in  the  parlour!” 


PROVERBS  XXI. 


105 


xix.  7. — All  the  brethren  of  the  poor  do  hate 
him ;  how  much  more  do  his  friends  go  far  from 
him  !  He  pursueth  them  with  words,  yet  they  are 
wanting  to  him. 

In  giving  an  account  of  the  state  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  the  missionaries  state,  that  the  helpless  and 
dependent,  whether  from  age  or  sickness,  are  often  cast 
from  the  habitations  of  their  relatives  and  friends,  to 
languish  and  to  die — unattended  and  unpitied.  An  in¬ 
stance  recently  came  to  their  knowledge,  in  which  a 
poor  wretch  thus  perished  within  sight  of  their  dwelling, 
after  having  lain  uncovered  for  days  and  nights  in  the 
open  air,  most  of  the  time  pleading  in  vain  to  his  family, 
still  within  the  hearing  of  his  voice,  for  a  drink  of 
water.  And  when  he  was  (tead,  his  body,  instead  of 
being  buried,  was  merely  drawn  so  far  into  the  bushes, 
as  to  prevent  the  olfence  that  would  have  arisen  from 
the  corpse,  and  left  a  prey  to  the  dogs  who  prowl 
through  the  district  in  the  night ! 

xx.  22. — Say  not  thou,  I  will  recompense  evil. 

A  gentleman  once  sent  his  servant  to  John  Bruen, 
Esq.,  of  Stapleton,  in  the  county  of  Chester,  forbidding 
him  ever  to  set  a  foot  upon  his  ground;  to  whom  he 
sent  this  truly  Christian  reply: — “If  it  please  your  mas¬ 
ter  to  walk  upon  my  grounds,  he  shall  be  very  welcome; 
but  if  he  will  please  to  come  to  my  house,  he  shall  be 
still  more  welcome.”  By  this  meek  reply,  the  gentle¬ 
man  was  softened  into  kindness,  and  became  his  friend 
ever  after. 

xxi.  7. — The  robbery  of  the  wicked  shall  des¬ 
troy  them. 

Bishop  Hall  relates  the  case  of  an  old  plain  man  in 
the  country,  into  whose  solitary  dwelling  some  thieves 
broke.  Taking  advantage  of  the  absence  of  his  family, 
and  finding  him  sitting  alone  by  his  fireside,  they  fell 
violently  upon  him ;  when  one  of  them,  presenting  his 


106 


PROVERBS  XXIV. 


dagger  to  the  old  man’s  breast,  swore  that  he  would 
presently  kill  him  if  he  did  not  instantly  deliver  to  them 
the  money  which  they  knew  he  had  lately  received. 
The  old  man,  looking  boldly  into  the  face  of  the  villain, 
replied,  with  an  undaunted  courage — “Nay,  if  I  were 
killed  by  thee,  I  have  lived  long  enough ;  but  I  tell  thee, 
son,  unless  thou  mend  thy  manners,  thou  wilt  never 
live  to  see  half  my  days.” 

xxii.  19. — That  thy  trust  may  be  in  the  Lord, 
I  have  made  known  to  thee  this  day,  even  to 
thee. 

A  gentleman  being  one  day  much  struck  with  the 
scriptural  knowledge  of  an  old  lady,  with  whom  he 
was  conversing,  asked  her  how  she  had  attained  such 
an  extensive  acquaintandfe  with  the  word  of  God  ?  To 
this  question  she  made  the  following  reply:  —  “Sir, 
much  is  lost  by  not  considering  the  word  of  God  as  ad¬ 
dressed  to  us  as  individuals.  For  these  thirty  years,  I 
have  read  the  word  of  God,  carefully  attended  to  every 
part  of  it,  as  if  I  had  been  the  only  person  in  the  world 
to  whom  it  was  addressed ;  and,  if  I  know  any  thing 
above  my  neighbours,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  I  owe 
it  entirely  to  this  practice.” 

xxiii.  26. — My  son,  give  me  thine  heart. 

A  Hindoo,  after  spending  some  years  in  seclusion, 
and  in  endeavouring  to  obtain  the  mastery  of  his  pas¬ 
sions,  came  to  a  mission  station,  where  he  thus  accost¬ 
ed  the  missionary: — “  I  have  a  flower,  a  precious  flower, 
to  present  as  an  offering;  but  as  yet  I  have  found  none 
worthy  to  receive  it.”  Hearing  of  the  love  of  Christ, 
he  said,  “I  will  offer  my  flower  to  Christ,  for  he  is 
worthy  to  receive  it.”  This  flower  was  his  heart.  Je¬ 
sus  accepted  it,  and,  after  a  short  time,  transplanted  it 
to  bloom  in  the  bowers  of  Eden. 

xxiv.  9. — The  thought  of  foolishness  is  sin. 

A  Jew  of  Morocco,  who  read  Hebrew  with  Mr.  Jow- 


PROVERBS  XXVI. 


107 


ett,  once  told  him  that  “  God  is  so  merciful  that  he  will 
not  punish  our  evil  thoughts,  unless  they  break  out  in¬ 
to  act;  then,  and  not  till  then,  they  become  sin.  Our 
good  thoughts,  on  the  contrary,  even  if  we  should  not 
find  opportunity  to  put  them  in  practice,  will  be  counted 
as  good  deeds,  as  much  as  if  they  had  been  performed.” 
“  I  urged,”  says  Mr.  J.,  “  all  that  I  could  against  such  a 
pernicious  maxim.  He  made  one  exception,  —  ‘The 
thought  of  idolatry  is  sin ;  but  to  intend  to  commit  mur¬ 
der,  adultery,  drunkenness,  &c.  is  no  sin,  unless  the 
act  is  committed.’  ” 

A  .  ' 

xxv.  21,  22. — If  thine  enemy  be  hungry,  give 
him  bread  to  eat ;  and  if  he  be  thirsty,  give  him 
water  to  drink  : — For  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire 
upon  his  head,  and  the  Lord  shall  reward  thee. 

During  the  persecuting  times  in  England,  two  per¬ 
sons  from  Bedford  went  early  one  morning  to  the  house 
of  a  pious  man,  who  rented  a  farm  in  the  parish  of 
Keysoe,  with  the  intention  of  apprehending  and  impris¬ 
oning  him  in  Bedford  jail  for  non-conformity.  The 
good  man  knew  their  intention,  and  desired  his  wife  to 
prepare  breakfast,  at  the  same  time  kindly  inviting  his 
visitors  to  partake  with  them.  In  asking  a  blessing  or 
in  returning  thanks  for  the  food,  he  pronounced  em¬ 
phatically  these  words, — “  If  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed 
him;  if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink,” — by  which  means 
the  hearts  of  his  persecutors  were  so  far  softened  that 
they  went  away  without  taking  him  into  custody. 

xxvi.  28. — A  flattering  mouth  worketh  ruin. 

A  clergyman  in  New  England,  eminent  both  for  tal¬ 
ents  and  humility,  was  one  day  accosted  by  a  parish¬ 
ioner,  who  highly  commended  some  of  his  performan¬ 
ces,  of  which  the  clergyman  himself  had  a  very  low 
opinion.  After  patiently  hearing  him  a  few  minutes, 
the  clergyman  replied,  “  My  friend,  all  that  you  say 
gives  me  no  better  opinion  of  myself  than  I  had  before, 
but  gives  me  a  much  worse  opinion  of  you.” 


108 


PROVERBS  XXIX. 


xxvii.  10. — Thine  own  friend,  and  thy  father’s 
friend,  forsake  not. 

The  late  excellent  Mr.  Cathcart  of  Drum,  was  in  the 
practice  of  keeping  a  diary,  which,  however,  included 
one  particular  department,  seldom  to  be  found  in  like 
cases.  Mr.  Cathcart  describes  his  plan  and  object  in 
the  following  words : — “A  memorial  of  acts  of  kindness, 
that  as  memory  is  liable  to  fail,  and  as  the  kindness 
and  friendship  of  former  times  may  be  forgotten,  the 
remembrance  of  friendly  offices  done  to  the  writer  or 
his  family,  or  to  his  particular  friends,  might  be  pre¬ 
served,  in  order  that  he  may  himself  repay  the  debt  in 
grateful  acknowledgments  while  he  lived,  and  that  his 
family  after  him  might  know  to  whom  their  father  owed 
obligations,  and  might  feel  every  debt  of  gratitude  due 
by  him  as  an  obligation  on  themselves.” 

xxviii.  24. — Whoso  robbeth  his  father  or  his 
mother,  and  saith,  It  is  no  transgression;  the 
same  is  the  companion  of  a  destroyer. 

About  the  end  of  the  year  1774,  the  following  unna¬ 
tural  robbery  was  committed.  A  tradesman  and  his 
wife  had  occasion  to  go  out  of  town,  and  on  their  re¬ 
turn  home,  horrible  to  relate,  they  were  stopped  by  two 
of  their  own  sons.  The  father  expostulated  with  them 
for  some  time,  as  did  also  their  mother,  without  effect. 
One  of  them  drove  a  pistol  against  his  mother’s  eye, 
and  it  was  feared  she  would  lose  the  sight  of  it.  The 
father  died  shortly  after  of  a  broken  heart,  and  appre¬ 
hensions  were  entertained  that  the  mother  would  not 
long  survive. 

xxix.  27. — An  unjust  man  is  an  abomination 
to  the  just ;  and  he  that  is  upright  in  the  way  is 
abomination  to  the  wicked. 

The  late  Rev.  Jonathan  Scott,  who  had  been  for  some 
time  an  officer  in  the  army,  and  an  irreligious  man, 
says  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  “I  find  that  before  I  left  the 


PROVERBS  XXXI. 


109 


regiment,  in  order  to  go  to  Shrewsbury,  I  began  to  be  a 
suspected  person.  Attending  the  ministry  of  such  a 
notorious  person  as  dear  Romaine,  and  associating  with 
some  Christian  people,  were  sufficient  to  cause  suspi¬ 
cions  that  I  was  turned  this,  and  turned  that.  Upon 
my  rejoining  the  regiment,  I  found  it  was  no  longer 
bare  suspicion.  Now  they  are  convinced  I  am  turned 
an  arrant  Methodist;  and  this  their  persuasion  is  a 
very  lucky  one  for  me ;  for  now  they  begin  to  think  my 
company  not  worth  being  over-solicitous  about;  andl 
am  sure  you  will  readily  believe  that  a  very  little  of 
theirs  is  enough  to  satisfy  me  ;  or,  more  properly  speak¬ 
ing,  to  dissatisfy  me,  so  as  to  be  tired  of  it,  since  their 
whole  conversation  consists  in  idle,  vain  nonsense, 
larded  with  horrid  oaths  and  filthy  obscenity ;  this  is 
the  more  shocking  to  me,  as  I  must  sometimes  be  pre¬ 
sent  at  it,  and  have  it  not  in  my  power  to  remedy  it.” 

xxx.  17. — The  eye  that  mocketh  at  his  father, 
and  despiseth  to  obey  his  mother,  the  ravens  of 
the  valley  shall  pick  it  out,  and  the  young  eagles 
shall  eat  it. 

Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  when  a  boy,  having  one  day  dis¬ 
obeyed  his  mother,  she  took  the  Bible,  and  read  and 
commented  on  the  preceding  passage  in  a  very  serious 
manner. — The  poor  culprit  was  cut  to  the  heart,  be¬ 
lieving  the  words  had  been  sent  immediately  from  hea¬ 
ven.  He  went  out  into  the  field  with  a  troubled  spirit, 
and  was  musing  on  this  awful  denunciation  of  Divine 
displeasure,  when  the  hoarse  croak  of  a  raven  sounded  in 
his  conscience  an  alarm  more  terrible  than  the  cry  of 
fire  at  midnight!  He  looked  up  and  soon  perceived 
this  most  ominous  bird,  and  actually  supposing  it  to  be 
the  raven  of  which  the  text  spoke  coming  to  pick  out 
his  eyes,  he  clapped  his  hands  on  them,  and  with  the 
utmost  speed  ran  home,  to  escape  the  impending 
danger. 

xxxi.  5. — Lest  they  drink,  and  forget  the  law, 

and  pervert  the  judgment  of  any  of  the  afflicted. 

10 


110 


ECCLESIASTES.  II. 


Philip,  King  of  Macedon,  having  drunk  too  much 
wine,  determined  a  cause  unjustly,  to  the  hurt  of  a  poor 
widow,  who,  when  she  heard  his  decree,  boldly  cried 
out,  “  I  appeal  to  Philip  sober.”  The  king,  struck  with 
this  strange  appeal,  began  to  recover  his  senses,  heard 
the  cause  anew,  and  finding  his  mistake,  ordered  her  to 
be  paid,  out  of  his  own  purse,  double  the  sum  she  was 
to  have  lost. 


ECCLESIASTES. 

Chap.  i.  14. — I  have  seen  all  the  works  that  are 
done  under  the  sun  ;  and,  behold,  all  is  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit. 

Mr.  Locke,  about  two  months  before  his  death,  drew 
up  a  letter  to  a  certain  gentleman,  and  left  this  direc¬ 
tion  on  it,  “To  be  delivered  to  him  after  my  decease.” 
In  it  are  these  remarkable  words : — “  This  life  is  a 
scene  of  vanity  that  soon  passes  away,  and  affords  no 
solid  satisfaction,  but  in  the  consciousness  of  doing 
well,  and  in  the  hopes  of  another  life.  This  is  what  I 
can  say  upon  experience,  and  what  you  will  find  to  be 
true,  when  you  come  to  make  up  the  account.” 

ii.  2. — I  said  of  laughter,  It  is  mad :  and  of 
mirth,  What  doeth  it  1 

The  Rev.  Jonathan  Scott,  meeting  at  one  place,  with 
some  ladies,  who  came  to  speak  to  him  after  preaching, 
one  of  them  said,  “Do  you  remember,  sir,  dancing  with 
us  at  such  a  time  and  place  V*  He  replied,  “  0  yes, 
madam,  I  remember  it  very  well;  and  am  much 
ashamed  of  those  days  of  my  vanity ;  but,  madam,  you 
and  I  are  many  years  older  now,  and  so  much  nearer 
death  and  eternity.”  He  then  proceeded  to  speak  of 
the  great  things  of  God. 


ECCLESIASTES  V. 


Ill 


iii.  12. — I  know  that  there  is  no  good  in  them, 
but  for  a  man  to  rejoice,  and  to  do  good  in  his  life. 

When  Colonel  Gardiner  was  raised  from  being  Ma¬ 
jor,  he  observed,  that  it  was  as  to  his  personal  concern 
much  the  same  to  him,  whether  he  had  remained  in 
his  former  station  or  been  elevated  to  this,  but  that  if 
God  should  by  this  means  honour  him  as  an  instrument 
of  doing  more  good  than  he  could  otherwise  have  done, 
he  should  rejoice  in  it. 

iv.  4. — I  considered  every  right  work,  that  for 
this  a  man  is  envied  of  his  neighbour. 

“  Dionysius  the  tyrant,”  says  Plutarch,  “  out  of  envy, 
punished  Philoxenius,  the  musician,  because  he  could 
sing,  and  Plato  the  philosopher,  because  he  could  dis¬ 
pute,  better  than  himself.” 

v.  5. — Better  is  it  that  thou  shouldest  not  vow, 
than  that  thou  shouldest  vow  and  not  pay. 

“  Monday  evening,”  writes  Mrs.  Judson,  “  the  daugh¬ 
ters  of - sent  to  invite  me  and  my  sisters  to  spend 

the  evening  with  them,  and  make  a  family  visit.  I 
hesitated  a  little,  but  considering  that  it  was  to  be  a 
family  party  merely,  I  thought  I  could  go  without  break¬ 
ing  my  resolutions.  Accordingly  I  went,  and  found 
that  two  or  three  other  families  of  young  ladies  had 
been  invited.  Dancing  was  soon  introduced — my  re¬ 
ligious  plans  were  forgotten — I  joined  with  the  rest — 
was  one  of  the  gayest  of  the  gay — and  thought  no  more 
of  the  new  life  I  had  begun.  On  my  return  home,  I 
found  an  invitation  from  Mrs. - in  waiting,  and  ac¬ 

cepted  it  at  once.  My  conscience  let  me  pass  quietly 
through  the  amusements  of  that  evening  also;  but 
when  I  retired  to  my  chamber,  on  my  return,  it  accused 
me  of  breaking  my  most  solemn  resolution.  I  thought 
I  should  never  dare  to  make  others,  for  I  clearly  saw 
that  I  was  unable  to  keep  them.” 


112 


ECCLESIASTES  VII. 


vi.  12. — Who  knoweth  what  is  good  for  man 
in  this  life  ? 

A  minister  of  Bristol,  preaching  on  the  preceding 
text,  introduced  the  following  anecdote  into  his  dis¬ 
course,  related  to  him  by  his  father,  who  knew  the  cir¬ 
cumstance  to  be  true. — A  gentleman  in  an  extensive 
line  of  business  in  a  distant  part  of  the  country,  left  his 
house  with  an  intention  of  going  to  Bristol  fair;  but 
when  he  had  proceeded  about  half  way  on  his  journey, 
he  was  seized  with  a  violent  fit  of  the  stone,  which  de¬ 
tained  him  several  days  at  the  place ;  and  as  the  fair 
was  by  this  time  nearly  over,  he  was  induced  to  return 
home.  Some  years  after,  the  same  gentleman  happen¬ 
ing  to  be  on  business  at  some  place  where  the  assizes 
for  the  county  were  held,  was  present  at  the  execution 
of  a  criminal  who  was  then  about  to  sutler.  Whilst 
he  was  mixed  with  the  crowd,  the  criminal  intimated  a 
wish  to  speak  with  him,  and  signified  that  he  had  some¬ 
thing  to  communicate  to  him.  The  gentleman  ap¬ 
proached,  and  was  addressed  to  the  following  effect: — 
“Do  you  recollect  having  intended  at  such  a  time  to  go 
to  Bristol  fair!”  “Yes,”  replied  the  gentleman,  “per¬ 
fectly  well.”  “  It  is  well  you  did  not,”  said  the  criminal, 
“  for  it  was  the  intention  of  myself  and  several  others, 
who  knew  that  you  had  a  considerable  sum  of  money 
about  you,  to  way-lay  and  rob,  and,  if  I  mistake  not, 
murder  you,  to  escape  detection.” 

vii.  2. — It  is  better  to  go  to  the  house  of  mourn¬ 
ing,  than  to  go  to  the  house  of  feasting  :  for  that 
is  the  end  of  all  men  ;  and  the  living  will  lay  it 
to  his  heart. 

When  the  late  Rev.  W.  Moorhouse,  of  Huddersfield, 
was  one  day  during  his  last  illness  talking  of  the  hea¬ 
venly  state,  which  he  expected  soon  to  enter,  one  of  his 
friends  said  to  him,  “You  think  too  much  about  another 
world;  think  and  talk  a  little  of  this  life.”  He  replied, 
“  Oh,  but  I  am  going  there  !  and,  whether  I  talk  about 
it  or  not,  I  must  go,  for  I  am  fast  hastening  to  an  un- 


ECCLESIASTES  X. 


113 


seen  world;  the  outward  man  is  fast  decaying,  and  it 
will  soon  be  ‘dust  to  dust.’ ”  With  his  eyes  very  de¬ 
voutly  raised,  and  exhibiting  an  animated  countenance, 
he  then  exclaimed — 

“  There  is  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 

Eternal  and  on  high ; 

And  here  my  waiting  spirit  stands, 

Till  God  shall  bid  it  fly.” 

viii.  1. — Who  is  as  the  wiseman? — a  man’s 
wisdom  maketh  his  face  to  shine,  and  the  boldness 
of  his  face  shall  be  changed. 

Mr.  Philip  Henry  used  to  remark,  “  that  it  is  strange 
to  see  sometimes  what  an  awe  arises  upon  the  spirits 
of  wicked  men,  from  the  very  company  and  presence 
of  one  eminent  in  holiness ;  they  dare  not  do  then,  as 
they  dare  and  do  at  other  times.  One  having  dined 
with  Mr.  John  Dod,  said  afterwards,  that  he  did  not 
think  it  could  have  been  possible  to  have  forborne 
swearing  so  long/’ 

ix.  7. — Eat  thy  bread  with  joy,  and  drink  thy 
wine  with  a  merry  heart ;  for  God  now  accepteth 
thy  works. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Whiting,  a  learned  and  useful  min¬ 
ister  in  New  England,  being  at  one  time  on  a  journey, 
some  persons  in  an  adjoining  room  of  the  inn,  were 
excessively  noisy  and  clamorous  in  their  mirth.  Mr. 
Whiting,  as  he  passed  by  their  door,  looked  in  upon 
them,  and  with  a  sweet  majesty  only  dropped  these 
words : — “  Friends,  if  you  are  sure  that  your  sins  are 
pardoned,  you  may  be  wisely  merry.”  These  words 
not  only  stilled  their  noise  for  the  present,  but  also  had 
a  great  effect  afterwards  on  some  of  the  company. 

x.  17. — Thy  princes  eat  in  due  season,  for 
strength,  and  not  for  drunkenness. 

10* 


114 


ECCLESIASTES  XII. 


* 

A  man  of  temperate  habits  was  once  dining  at  the 
house  of  a  free  drinker.  No  sooner  was  the  cloth  re¬ 
moved  from  the  dinner  table,  than  wine  and  spirits 
were  produced,  and  he  was  asked  to  take  a  glass  of 
spirits  and  water,  “  No,  thank  you,”  said  he,  “  I  am  not 
ill.”  “  Take  a  glass  of  wine,  then,”  said  his  hospitable 
host,  “or  a  glass  of  ale.”  “No,  thank  you,”  said  he, 
“I  am  not  thirsty.”  These  answers  called  forth  a  loud 
hurst  of  laughter. — Soon  after  this,  the  temperate  man 
took  a  piece  of  bread  from  the  side-board,  and  handed 
it  to  his  host,  who  refused  it,  saying  that  he  was  not 
hungry.  At  this  the  temperate  man  laughed  in  his 
turn.  “  Surely,”  said  he,  “  I  have  as  much  reason  to 
laugh  at  you  for  not  eating  when  you  are  not  hungry, 
as  you  have  to  laugh  at  me  for  declining  medicine 
when  not  ill,  and  drink  when  I  am  not  thirsty.” 

xi.  9. — Know  thou,  that  for  all  these  things  God 
will  bring  thee  into  judgment. 

A  person  in  a  stage  coach,  who  had  indulged  in  a 
strain  of  speech  which  betrayed  licentiousness  and  in¬ 
fidelity,  seemed  hurt  that  no  one  either  agreed  or  dis¬ 
puted  with  him.  “Well,”  he  exclaimed,  as  a  funeral 
procession  slowly  passed  the  coach,  “  there  is  the  last 
job  of  all.”  “No!”  replied  a  person  directly  opposite 
to  him  :  “  No  !  for  after  death  is  the  judgment.”  The 
speaker  was  silenced. 

xii.  4. — Remember  now  thy  Creator  in  the 
days  of  thy  youth. 

An  old  man,  one  day  taking  a  child  on  his  knee,  en¬ 
treated  him  to  seek  God  now — to  pray  to  him — and  to 
love  him  :  when  the  child,  looking  up  at  him,  asked, 
“  But  why  do  not  you  seek  God  1”  The  old  man,  deep¬ 
ly  affected,  answered,  “I  would,  child;  but  my  heart  is 
hard — my  heart  is  hard.” 


SONG  OF  SOLOMON  III. 


115 


SONG  OF  SOLOMON. 

Chap.  i.  4. — We  will  remember  thy  love  more 
than  wine :  the  upright  love  thee. 

In  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Judson,  missionary  in 
Burmah,  addressed  to  American  females,  the  following 
anecdote  is  related ; — “  A  Karen  woman  offered  herself 
for  baptism.  After  the  usual  examination,  I  inquired 
whether  she  could  give  up  her  ornaments  for  Christ. 
It  was  an  unexpected  blow.  I  explained  the  spirit  of 
the  gospel.  I  appealed  to  her  own  consciousness  of 
vanity.  I  read  to  her  the  apostle’s  prohibition  (1  Tim. 
ii.  9.)  She  looked  again  and  again  at  her  handsome 
necklace,  and  then,  with  an  air  of  modest  decision,  that 
would  adorn,  beyond  all  ornaments,  any  of  my  sisters 
whom  I  have  the  honour  of  addressing,  she  took  it  off, 
saying,  ‘  I  love  Christ  more  than  this.’  ” 

ii.  2. — I  sat  down  under  his  shadow  with  great 
delight. 

The  Rev.  Isaac  Toms,  of.Hadleigh,  in  England,  re¬ 
marked  to  one  of  his  daughters,  on  her  return  from  a 
long  visit  to  her  friends, — “  I  have  heard  of  Dryden’s 
contentment,  when  sitting  under  the  statue  of  Shak- 
speare ;  and  that  Buffon,  the  celebrated  natural  histo¬ 
rian,  felt  himself  happy  at  the  feet  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton ; 
but,”  said  he,  pointing  to  a  picture  which  hung  over  his 
desk,  “here  you  find  me  under  the  shadow  of  good 
Richard  Baxter.  Yet,  my  dear,”  added  the  venerable 
saint,  “  the  most  desirable  situation  in  which  we  can  be 
placed,  is  to  be  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty; 
under  the  protection  of  the  great  Redeemer.” 

iii.  11. — Behold  king  Solomon  with  the  crown. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by 
Mr.  Strachan,  one  of  the  heralds  at  the  coronation  of 


116 


SONG  OF  SOLOMON  IV. 


his  majesty  George  III. — “After  the  king  was  crowned, 
and  invested  with  all  his  royal  dignity,  all  the  peers 
were  allowed  the  privilege  of  patting  on  their  crowns, 
— they  looked  like  a  company  of  kings,  as  in  some 
sense  they  were.  But  immediately  they  came,  one  by 
one,  and  laid  down  their  crowns  at  their  sovereign’s 
feet,  in  testimony  of  their  having  no  power  or  authority 
but  what  they  derived  from  him ;  and  having  each 
kissed  his  sceptre,  he  allowed  each  of  them  to  kiss 
himself;  upon  which  their  crowns  were  restored  to 
them,  and  they  were  all  allowed  to  reign  as  subordinate 
kings.  This  could  not  miss  bringing  to  mind  what  is 
recorded  in  the  Revelations,  of  the  whole  redeemed 
company,  who  are  said  to  be  kings  and  priests  unto 
God,  and  who  are  to  reign  with  Jesus  Christ  for  ever 
and  ever;  their  casting  down  their  crowns,  and  saying, 
‘Thou  art  worthy  to  receive  power  and  majesty.’  I 
thought  with  myself,  were  I  so  happy  as  to  make  one 
of  that  innumerable  company,  redeemed  from  among 
men,  I  should  not  envy  all  the  nobles  in  England  what 
they  are  now  enjoying.” 


iv.  11. — Thy  lips,  O  my  spouse,  drop  as  the 
honey-comb;  honey  and  milk  are  under  thy 
tongue. 

Mr.  Hervey,  in  a  letter,  says — “  I  have  lately  seen 
that  most  excellent  minister  of  the  ever-blessed  Jesus, 

Mr. - .  I  dined,  supped,  and  spent  the  evening  with 

him  at  Northampton,  in  company  with  Dr.  Doddridge, 
and  two  pious  ingenious  clergymen  of  the  Church  of 
England,  both  of  them  known  to  the  learned  world  by 
their  valuable  writings;  and  surely  I  never  spent  a 
more  delightful  evening,  or  saw  one  that  seemed  to 
make  nearer  approaches  to  the  felicity  of  heaven.  A 
gentleman  of  great  worth  and  rank  in  the  town,  invited 
us  to  his  house,  and  gave  us  an  elegant  treat;  but  how 
mean  was  his  provision,  how  coarse  his  delicacies, 
compared  with  the  fruit  of  my  friend’s  lips!  —  they 
dropped  as  the  honey-comb,  and  were  a  well  of  life.” 


SONG  OF  SOLOMON  VI. 


117 


v.  1. — Eat,  O  friends ;  drink,  yea,  drink  abun¬ 
dantly,  0  beloved. 

While  the  American  army,  under  the  command  of 
General  Washington,  lay  encamped  in  the  environs  of 
Morristown,  N.  J.,  the  Lord’s  Supper  was  to  be  admin¬ 
istered  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  that  village.  In 
a  morning  of  the  previous  week,  the  general  visited  the 
house  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jones,  then  pastor  of  that  church, 
and  thus  accosted  him:  —  “Doctor,  I  understand  that 
the  Lord’s  Supper  is  to  be  celebrated  with  you  next 
Sabbath;  I  would  learn  if  it  accords  with  the  canons 
of  your  church  to  admit  communicants  of  another  de¬ 
nomination  ?”  The  Doctor  rejoined,  “  Most  certainly ; 
ours  is  not  the  Presbyterian  table,  General,  but  the 
Lord’s  table ;  and  we  hence  give  the  Lord’s  invitation 
to  all  his  followers,  of  whatever  name.”  The  General 
replied, “ I  am  glad  to  hear  it — that  is  as  it  ought  to  be; 
but  as  I  was  not  quite  sure  of  the  fact,  I  thought  I  would 
ascertain  it  from  yourself,  as  I  purpose  to  be  with  you 
on  that  occasion.  Though  a  member  of  the  church  of 
England,  I  have  not  exclusive  partialities.”  The  Doc¬ 
tor  re-assured  him  of  a  cordial  welcome,  and  the  Gen¬ 
eral  was  found  seated  with  the  communicants  next 
Sabbath. 

vi.  10. — Fair  as  the  moon. 

The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  has  the  following  entry 
in  his  diary,  of  September  23,  1713: — “I  was  this  day 
at  Kirkness  and  Ballingry,  with  my  wife;  and  upon 
the  way  home,  towards  the  twilight,  a  little  after  sun¬ 
set,  the  moon  appeared  in  the  east,  about  the  full ;  and 
it  pleased  the  Lord  to  give  me  some  views  of  his  power 
and  glory  in  that  creature.  It  appeared  to  me  to  be  a 
vast  body,  bright  and  glorious,  hanging  pendular  upon 
nothing,  supported  only  by  the  power  of  the  eternal 
God.  I  wondered  how  there  could  be  an  atheist  in  the 
world,  that  looked  on  this  glorious  creature,  wherein 
there  appeared  so  much  of  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
the  Creator.” 


118 


ISAIAH  I. 


vii.  12. — Let  us  get  up  early  to  the  vineyards. 

Morier,  when  he  travelled  in  Persia,  observed  the 
people  sleeping  on  the  house-tops ;  he  noticed  that  the 
women  were  generally  up  first,  and  stirring  about  with 
activity  at  an  early  hour. — Lord  Mansfield,  a  celebrated 
judge  in  England,  used  to  ask  any  aged  person  who 
came  before  him  as  a  witness,  about  his  manner  and 
habits  of  life ;  and  he  said  that  among  the  many  hun¬ 
dreds  he  had  spoken  to,  he  always  found  that  they  were 
early  risers,  however  they  might  differ  in  other  re¬ 
spects. 

viii.  7. — If  a  man  would  give  all  the  substance 
of  his  house  for  love,  it  would  utterly  be  contemned. 

A  boy,  not  five  years  of  age,  hearing  his  parent  read 
the  parable  of  the  Wedding  Garment,  and  remark  on 
the  concluding  sentence — “For  many  are  called,  but 
few  are  chosen,” — that  it  may  be  understood  of  such  as 
profess  to  believe  in  Christ,  but  are  not  approved  by 
him;  asked  why  they  were  not  approved?  He  was 
referred  to  the  parable,  which  showed  that  there  was 
something  greatly  wanting  in  them.  “  But  what,”  said 
he,  “  is  it,  that  is  wanting,  that  Jesus  should  approve 
them?  Is  it  love  to  Jesus  Christ?” 


ISAIAH. 

Chap.  i.  18. — Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 

they  shall  be  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be  red 

like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool. 

A  sailor  on  watch,  was  one  evening  walking  back¬ 
wards  and  forwards  on  deck,  when  a  sudden  squall  of 
wind  caused  the  vessel  to  give  a  heavy  lurch.  The 
sailor  was  driven  against  one  of  the  stauncheons,  and 


ISAIAH  II. 


119 


somewhat  injured.  He  gave  vent  to  his  anger  by  a 
dreadful  oath — cursing  the  wind,  the  ship,  the  sea,  and 
(awful  to  mention)  the  Being  who  made  them.  Scarce¬ 
ly  had  this  horrid  oath  escaped  his  lips,  when  it  ap¬ 
peared  to  roll  back  upon  his  mind  with  such  awful 
force,  that,  for  a  moment  or  two,  he  thought  he  saw  the 
sea  parting,  and  the  vessel  going  down.  During  the 
whole  of  that  night,  the  dreadful  oath  haunted  his  mind 
like  a  spectre,  and  its  consequences  appeared  to  bring 
his  certain  damnation.  For  several  days  he  was  in  the 
deepest  distress  of  mind,  till,  happening  to  turn  over 
some  things  in  his  chest,  he  found  a  leaf  of  the  Bible 
wrapped  about  one  of  the  articles  in  it,  containing 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  first  chapter  of  Isaiah.  The 
reading  of  the  above  passage,  in  particular,  deeply  im¬ 
pressed  his  mind,  and,  together  with  his  subsequent  at¬ 
tendance  on  the  means  of  grace,  was  the  means  of  re¬ 
lieving  him  from  his  distress,  and  he  was  enabled  to 
believe  that  the  Lord  had  forgiven  his  great  sin. 

ii.  4. — They  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plow¬ 
shares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks :  nation 
shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall 
they  learn  war  any  more. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Orsmond,  missionary  in  Eimeo,  says, 
— “A  few  weeks  ago,  I  overheard  some  chiefs  con¬ 
versing  among  themselves ;  the  following  are  a  few 
of  the  expressions  which  I  caught : — ‘  But  for  our  teach¬ 
ers,  our  grass  on  the  hill,  our  fences  and  houses,  would 
have  been  fire  ashes  long  ago  —  (meaning  that  there 
would  have  been  wars,  in  which  their  houses  would 
have  been  burned,  had  not  Christianity  been  establish¬ 
ed.)  But  for  the  gospel,  we  should  now  have  been  on 
the  mountains,  squeezing  moss  for  a  drop  of  water; 
eating  raw  roots,  and  smothering  the  cries  of  our  child¬ 
ren  by  filling  their  mouths  with  grass,  dirt,  or  cloth. 
Under  the  reign  of  the  Messiah,  we  stretch  out  our  feet 
at  ease;  eat  our  food,  keep  our  pig  by  the  house,  and 
see  children,  wife,  and  all,  at  table  in  the  same  house. 
We  do  not  know  our  ancestors,  our  kings  and  our  pa- 


120 


ISAIAH  IV. 


rents ;  and  we  were  all  blind,  till  the  birds  flew  across 
the  great  expanse  with  good  seeds  in  their  mouths,  and 
planted  them  among  us.  We  now  gather  the  fruit,  and 
have  continual  harvest.  It  was  God  who  put  into  the 
hearts  of  those  strangers  to  come  to  us.  We  have  no¬ 
thing  to  give  them.  They  are  a  people  who  seek  our 
good;  but  we  are  a  people  of  thorny  hands,  of  pointed 
tongues,  and  we  have  no  thoughts.  If  God  were  to 
take  our  teachers  from  us,  we  should  soon  be  savage 
again.  They  are  the  great  roots  to  the  tree  on  the  high 
hill;  the  wind  strikes  it,  twists  it,  but  cannot  level  it  to 
the  ground,  for  its  roots  are  strong.  Our  hearts  de¬ 
lighted  in  war,  but  our  teachers  love  peace,  and  we  now 
have  peace.’  ” 

iii.  22,  23. — The  changeable  suits  of  apparel, 
and  the  mantles,  and  the  wimples,  and  the  crisping- 
pins, — The  glasses,  and  the  fine  linen,  and  the 
hoods,  and  the  veils. 

The  Rev.  John  Harrion,  a  dissenting  minister  at 
Denton  in  Norfolk,  had  two  daughters  who  were  much 
too  fond  of  dress,  which  was  a  great  grief  to  him.  He 
had  often  reproved  them  in  vain;  and  preaching  one 
Sabbath  day  on  the  sin  of  pride,  he  took  occasion  to 
notice,  among  other  things,  pride  in  dress.  After  speak¬ 
ing  some  considerable  time  on  this  subject,  he  suddenly 
stopped  short,  and  said,  with  much  feeling  and  expres¬ 
sion,  “  But  you  will  say,  Look  at  home.  My  good 
friends,  I  do  look  at  home,  till  my  heart  aches.” 

iv.  4. — When  the  Lord  shall  have  washed  away 
the  filth  of  the  daughters  of  Zion,  and  shall  have 
purged  the  blood  of  Jerusalem  from  the  midst 
thereof,  by  the  spirit  of  judgment,  and  by  the 
spirit  of  burning. 

“I  remember,”  says  Mr.  Whitefield,  “some  years 
ago,  when  I  was  at  Shields,  I  went  into  a  glass-house ; 
and,  standing  very  attentive,  I  saw  several  masses  of 


ISAIAH  VI. 


121 


burning  glass,  of  various  forms.  The  workman  took  a 
piece  of  glass,  and  put  it  into  one  furnace,  then  he  put 
it  into  a  second,  and  then  into  a  third.  I  said  to  him, 
‘  Why  do  you  put  it  through  so  many  fires'?’  He  an¬ 
swered,  ‘  O,  sir,  the  first  was  not  hot  enough,  nor  the 
second,  therefore  we  put  it  into  a  third,  and  that  will 
make  it  transparent.’  ”  This  furnished  Mr.  Whitefield 
with  a  useful  hint,  that  we  must  be  tried,  and  exercised 
with  many  fires,  until  our  dross  be  purged  away,  and 
we  are  made  fit  for  the  owner’s  use. 

v.  22. — Wo  unto  them  that  are  mighty  to 
drink  wine,  and  men  of  strength  to  mingle  strong 
drink. 

Two  young  men  lately  drinking  together  at  a  public- 
house,  in  a  village  near  Huntingdon,  fell  into  a  conver¬ 
sation  as  to  who  could  drink  most  without  being  in¬ 
toxicated.  One  of  them  said  to  the  other,  “I  will  call 
for  a  half-crown’s  worth  of  gin :  if  you  finish  the  liquor, 
I  will  pay  for  it — if  not,  you  shall.”  The  other  agreed 
to  the  proposal,  and  drank  till  he  fell  from  the  chair, 
when  he  was  carried  home,  and  soon  after  died.  How 
awful  to  meet  death  in  such  a  state  ! 

vi.  9. — He  said,  Go  and  tell  this  people,  Hear 
ye  indeed,  but  understand  not ;  and  see  ye  indeed, 
but  perceive  not. 

“  On  the  morning  before  I  was  licensed,”  says  the 
late  Rev.  John  Brown,  “  that  text  was  much  impressed 
on  my  spirit,  ‘  He  said,  Go  and  tell  this  people,  Hear  ye 
indeed,  but  understand  not ;  and  see  ye  indeed,  but  per¬ 
ceive  not,’  &c.  Since  I  was  ordained  at  Haddington, 
I  know  not  how  often  it  hath  been  heavy  to  my  heart 
to  think  how  much  this  scripture  hath  been  fulfilled  in 
my  ministry.  Frequently  I  have  had  an  anxious  de¬ 
sire  to  be  removed  by  death,  from  being  a  plague  to 
my  poor  congregation.  Often,  however,  I  have  check¬ 
ed  myself,  and  have  considered  this  wish  as  my  folly, 
and  begged  of  the  Lord,  that  if  it  were  not  for  his  glory 

11 


122 


ISAIAH  VIII. 


to  remove  me  by  death,  he  would  make  me  successful 
in  my  work.” 

vii.  18. — The  Lord  shall  hiss  for  the  fly  that  is 
in  the  uttermost  part  of  the  rivers  of  Egypt. 

Yinis'auf,  speaking  of  the  army  under  Richard  I.,  a 
little  before  he  left  the  Holy  Land,  and  describing  them 
as  marching  on  the  plain  not  far  from  the  sea-coast, 
says,  “The  army  stopping  awhile  there,  rejoicing  in 
the  hope  of  speedily  setting  out  for  Jerusalem,  were  as¬ 
sailed  by  a  most  minute  kind  of  fly,  flying  about  like 
sparks,  which  they  called  cincinellac.  With  these  the 
whole  neighbouring  region  round  about  was  filled. 
These  most  wretchedly  infested  the  pilgrims,  piercing 
with  great  smartness  the  hands,  necks,  throats,  fore¬ 
heads,  and  faces,  and  every  part  that  was  uncovered,  a 
most  violent  burning  tumour  following  the  punctures 
made  by  them,  so  that  all  that  they  stung  looked  like 
lepers.”  He  adds,  “That  they  could  hardly  guard 
themselves  from  this  most  troublesome  vexation,  by 
covering  their  heads  and  necks  with  veils.” 

viii.  21. — They  shall  fret  themselves,  and  curse 
their  king  and  their  God,  and  look  upward. 

General  Burn,  in  describing  the  effects  of  a  violent 
storm  that  assailed  the  vessel  in  which  he  was  return¬ 
ing  to  England,  off  the  coast  of  Whitehaven,  says,  “As 
beings  imagining  they  had  but  a  few  moments  to  live, 
all  strove  with  dying  eagerness  to  reach  the  quarter¬ 
deck,  but  we  had  scarcely  raised  ourselves  upright 
when  the  ship  struck  a  second  time,  more  violently 
than  before,  and  again  threw  us  all  prostrate.  The 
scene  was  enough  to  make  the  heart  of  the  stoutest 
sinner  tremble.  I  very  well  remember  the  agony  of 
one  of  my  poor  messmates.  This  man  had  acquired 
considerable  property  in  Jamaica,  and  during  the  voy¬ 
age,  like  the  rich  man  in  the  parable,  was  frequently 
devising  plans  of  future  happiness.  At  this  awful  mo¬ 
ment,  he  exclaimed  bitterly  against  the  treatment  of 
heaven,  that  had  made  him  spend  so  many  toilsome 


ISAIAH  X. 


123 


years  in  a  scorching  and  unhealthy  climate  to  procure 
a  little  wealth ;  and  when  with  pain  and  trouble  he  had 
heaped  it  together,  had  tantalized  him  with  a  sight  of 
the  happy  shore,  where  he  expected  peaceably  to  en¬ 
joy  it;  but  now  with  one  cruel  sudden  stroke,  had  de¬ 
feated  all  his  hopes.  The  cutting  reflections  and  bitter 
complaints  which  came  from  this  man’s  mouth,  ex¬ 
pressed  such  black  despair,  that  he  appeared  more  like 
a  fiend  of  the  bottomless  pit,  than  a  sinner  yet  in  the 
land  of  hope.” 

ix.  13. — The  people  turneth  not  unto  him  that 
smiteth  them,  neither  do  they  seek  the  Lord  of 
hosts. 

A  Christian  friend  visiting  a  good  man  under  great 
distress  and  afflicting  dispensations,  which  he  bore 
with  such  patient  and  composed  resignation,  as  to  make 
his  friend  wonder  at  and  admire  it,  inquired  how  he  was 
enabled  so  to  comfort  himself?  The  good  man  said, 
“The  distress  I  am  under  is  indeed  severe;  but  I  find 
it  lightens  the  stroke  very  much,  to  creep  near  to  Him 
who  handles  the  rod;”  adding,  “but  where  else,  save 
in  the  religion  of  Christ,  could  such  a  sufferer  find  such 
a  support !” 

x.  15. — Shall  the  axe  boast  itself  against  him 
that  heweth  therewith  ?  or  shall  the  saw  magnify 
itself  against  him  that  shaketh  it  1 

When  Bonaparte  was  about  to  invade  Russia,  a  per¬ 
son  who  had  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him  from  his 
purpose,  finding  he  could  not  prevail,  quoted  to  him  the 
proverb,  “  Man  proposes,  but  God  disposes  ;”  to  which 
he  indignantly  replied,  “I  dispose  as  well  as  propose.” 
A  Christian  lady,  on  hearing  the  impious  boast,  re¬ 
marked,  “  I  set  that  down  as  the  turning  point  of  Bona¬ 
parte’s  fortunes.  God  will  not  suffer  a  creature  with 
impunity  thus  to  usurp  his  prerogative.”  It  happened 
to  Bonaparte  just  as  the  lady  predicted.  His  invasion 
of  Russia  was  the  commencement  of  his  fall. 


124 


ISAIAH  XII. 


xi.  9. — They  shall  not  hurt  or  destroy  in  all  my 
holy  mountain  :  for  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea. 

In  the  eleventh  century,  the  effect  of  the  gospel  in 
Denmark  was  such,  as  to  prove  at  once  its  divine  ori¬ 
gin,  and  its  benign  tendency.  Adam  of  Bremen,  an 
historian,  thus  expresses  it: — “Look  at  that  very  fero¬ 
cious  nation  of  the  Danes ;  for  a  long  time  they  have 
been  accustomed,  in  the  praises  of  God,  to  resound 
Alleluia !  Look  at  that  piratical  people ;  they  are  now- 
content  with  the  fruits  of  their  own  country.  Look  at 
that  horrid  region,  formerly  altogether  inacessible  on 
account  of  idolatry;  now  they  eagerly  admit  the 
preacher  of  the  word.” — To  refer  to  a  more  recent  in¬ 
stance  :  the  inhabitants  of  the  South  Sea  are  now  pro¬ 
fessedly  Christian,  and  improvement  in  their  circum¬ 
stances  keeps  pace  with  that  of  their  morals.  Theft  is 
almost  unknown  among  them.  Family  prayer  is  set 
up  in  every  house,  and  private  prayer  is  almost  uni¬ 
versally  attended  to.  The  people  look  up  to  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  as  their  oracle  in  all  their  troubles  of  body 
and  mind,  civil  and  religious.  They  were  once  the 
cruel  slaves  of  Satan,  destroying  themselves  and  their 
infant  offspring.  Now,  women  are  restored  to  their 
proper  rank  in  society,  a  new  generation  of  young  ones 
is  springing  up,  beloved  by  their  parents ;  and  the  face 
of  things  is  wonderfully  altered,  so  that  we  are  con¬ 
strained  to  say,  “  This  is  the  Lord’s  doing,  and  it  is 
marvellous  in  our  eyes.” 

xii.  1. — In  that  day  thou  shalt  say,  O  Lord,  I 
will  praise  thee  :  though  thou  wast  angry  with  me, 
thine  anger  is  turned  away,  and  thou  comfortedst 
me. 

The  late  Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  during  his  last  illness, 
sometimes  wanted  that  comfort  which  he  usually  en¬ 
joyed;  and  though  hope  as  to  his  final  salvation  gene¬ 
rally  predominated,  yet  he  would  say,  “  Even  one  fear, 
where  infinity  is  at  stake,  is  sufficient  to  countervail 


ISAIAH  XIII. 


125 


all  its  consoling  effects.”  Having  received  the  Sacra¬ 
ment,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  service,  he  adopted  the 
language  of  Simeon,  “  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  ser¬ 
vant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  sal¬ 
vation.”  Through  the  remainder  of  the  day,  and  during 
the  night,  he  continued  in  a  very  happy  state  of  mind. 
To  one  who  came  in  the  evening,  he  said,  “  It  was 
beneficial  to  me :  I  received  Christ  last  night :  I  bless 
God  for  it.”  He  then  repeated,  in  the  most  emphatic 
manner,  the  whole  twelfth  chapter  of  Isaiah.  The  next 
morning  he  said,  “  This  is  heaven  begun.  I  have  done 
with  darkness  for  ever — for  ever.  Satan  is  vanquish¬ 
ed.  Nothing  now  remains  but  salvation  with  eternal 
glory — eternal  glory.” 

xiii.  20,  21. — It  shall  never  be  inhabited,  neither 
shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation,  to  generation  ; 
— But  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there  ;  and 
their  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful  creatures. 

When  Babylon  was  first  deserted  of  its  inhabitants, 
the  Persian  kings  turned  it  into  a  park  for  hunting,  and 
kept  their  wild  beasts  there.  When  the  Persian  em¬ 
pire  declined,  the  beasts  broke  loose,  so  that,  when 
Alexander  the  Great  marched  eastward,  he  found  Ba¬ 
bylon  a  perfect  desert.  He  intended  to  restore  Euphra¬ 
tes  to  its  ancient  channel,  but  the  design  not  having 
been  completed,  the  river  overflowed  its  banks,  and  the 
greater  part  of  that  once  celebrated  city  became  a  lake 
or  pool  of  water.  Theodorus,  who  lived  about  four 
hundred  years  after  Christ,  tells  us,  that  Babylon  was 
the  receptacle  of  snakes,  serpents,  and  all  sorts  of  nox¬ 
ious  animals,  so  that  it  was  dangerous  to  visit  it.  Ben¬ 
jamin  of  Tudela,  a  Jew,  who  visited  it  in  1112,  informs 
us.  that  few  remains  of  it  were  left,  nor  were  there  any 
inhabitants  within  many  miles  of  it.  Rawolffe,  a  Ger¬ 
man,  who  travelled  to  the  east  in  1572,  found  it  very 
difficult  to  discover  the  place  on  which  it  stood,  nor 
could  the  neighbouring  inhabitants  give  him  proper  di¬ 
rections.  Mr.  Hanway,  a  later  traveller,  with  every  as¬ 
sistance  that  could  be  procured,  spent  several  days  in 

11* 


126 


ISAIAH  XV. 


endeavouring  to  ascertain  its  situation,  but  in  vain,  so 
completely  has  it  been  swept,  with  the  besom  of  de¬ 
struction,  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

xiv.  17. — That  opened  not  the  house  of  his 
prisoners  ? 

Mr.  William  Jenkyn,  one  of  the  ejected  ministers  in. 
England,  being  imprisoned  in  Newgate,  presented  a 
petition  to  King  Charles  II.  for  a  release,  which  was 
backed  by  an  assurance  from  his  physicians,  that  his 
life  was  in  danger  from  his  close  imprisonment;  but 
no  other  answer  could  be  obtained  than  this,  “Jenkyn 
shall  be  a  prisoner  as  long  as  he  lives.” — A  nobleman 
having  some  time  after  heard  of  his  death,  said,  to  the 
king,  “  May  it  please  your  Majesty,  Jenkyn  has  got  his 
liberty.”  Upon  which  he  asked,  with  eagerness,  “Aye ! 
who  gave  it  him  1”  The  nobleman  replied,  “A  greater 
than  your  Majesty — the  King  of  kings;”  with  which 
the  king  seemed  greatly  struck,  and  remained  silent. 

xv.  4. — Hesbon  shall  cry,  and  Elealeh  ;  their 
voice  shall  be  heard  even  unto  Jahaz. 

Sir  John  Chardin,  giving  an  account  of  the  Eastern 
lamentations,  says,  “Their  sentiments  of  joy,  or  of 
grief,  are  properly  transports ;  and  their  transports  are 
ungoverned,  excessive,  and  truly  outrageous.  When 
any  one  returns  from  a  long  journey,  or  dies,  his  family 
burst  into  cries,  that  may  be  heard  twenty  doors  off ; 
and  this  is  renewed  at  different  times,  and  continues 
many  days,  according  to  the  vigour  of  the  passion. 
Especially  are  these  cries  long  in  the  case  of  death, 
and  frightful ;  for  the  mourning  is  right-down  despair, 
and  an  image  of  hell.  I  was  lodged,  in  the  year  1676, 
at  Ispahan,  near  the  Royal  Square ;  the  mistress  of  the 
next  house  to  mine  died  at  that  time.  The  moment 
she  expired,  all  the  family,  to  the  number  of  twenty-five 
or  thirty  people,  set  up  such  a  furious  cry,  that  I  was 
quite  startled,  and  was  above  two  hours  before  I  could 
recover  myself.” 


ISAIAH  XVII. 


127 


xvi.  4. — Let  mine  outcasts  dwell  with  thee, 
Moab. 

Mr.  Philip  Henry,  one  of  the  non-conformist  minis¬ 
ters,  when  silenced  from  preaching,  by  the  act  of  uni¬ 
formity,  took  comfort  himself,  and  administered  com¬ 
fort  to  others  from  the  preceding  passage.  “  God’s  peo¬ 
ple,”  he  observed,  “may  be  an  outcast  people,  cast  out 
of  men’s  love,  their  synagogues,  their  country ;  but  God 
will  own  his  people  when  men  cast  them  out ;  they  are 
outcasts,  but  they  are  his,  and  some  way  or  other  he 
will  provide  a  dwelling  for  them.” — Shortly  before  his 
death,  the  same  pious  man  observed,  that,  though  many 
of  the  ejected  ministers  were  brought  very  low,  had 
many  children,  were  greatly  harassed  by  persecution, 
and  their  friends  generally  poor  and  unable  to  support 
them;  yet,  in  all  his  acquaintance,  he  never  knew,  nor 
could  remember  to  have  heard  of,  any  non-conformist 
minister  in  prison  for  debt. 


xvii.  7. — At  that  day  shall  a  man  look  to  his 
Maker,  and  his  eyes  shall  have  respect  to  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Charles  had,  at  one  time,  the  prospect 
of  obtaining  a  situation  in  North  Wales,  which  he 
much  wished;  but,  as  in  a  former  instance,  he  eventu¬ 
ally  failed.  The  place  appears  to  have  been  lost 
through  the  remissness  of  a  friend;  who  was  commis¬ 
sioned  to  treat  for  the  situation.  “If  I  had  not,  at  that 
moment,”  says  Mr.  C.,  “  seen  the  hand  of  God  in  it,  I 

should  have  been  very  angry  indeed  with  Mr. - . 

Every  thing  is  under  the  control  of  the  all-wise  God. 
To  see  and  believe  this,  will  make  us  perfectly  easy  and 
resigned,  even  in  the  greatest  disappointments.  How 
true  it  is,  ‘that  he  that  believeth  in  Him,  shall  not  be 
moved.’  And  what  a  blessed  thing  it  is  to  obtain  a 
firmness  and  stability  which  nothing  can  shake ;  no, 
not  even  the  wreck  of  nature.” 


128 


ISAIAH  XIX. 


xviii.  2. — That  sendeth  ambassadors  by  the 
sea,  even  in  vessels  of  bulrushes  upon  the  waters. 

“We  went  up  the  river  Euphrates,”  says  an  Eastern 
traveller,  “this  afternoon.  Our  boat  was  of  a  peculiar 
make.  In  shape  it  was  like  a  large  round  basket;  the 
sides  were  of  willow,  covered  over  with  bitumen,  a  sort 
of  pitch ;  the  bottom  was  made  with  reeds ;  it  had  two 
men  with  paddles,  one  of  whom  paddled  toward  him, 
and  the  other  pushed  from  him.  This  sort  of  boat  is 
common  on  the  Euphrates,  and  may  be  of  the  same 
kind  as  the  vessels  of  bulrushes  upon  the  waters  spo¬ 
ken  of  by  Isaiah.” 

xix.  20. — -The  Lord  shall  send  them  a  Saviour, 
and  a  great  one,  and  he  shall  deliver  them. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Grimshaw  stated,  at  a  recent  meeting 
of  the  Religious  Tract  Society,  that  a  few  years  ago  he 
met  with  Mr.  Kohlmeister,  who  had  laboured  among  the 
Esquimaux  for  thirty-four  years,  and  had  first  transla¬ 
ted  the  four  Gospels  into  the  Esquimaux  language. 
Among  a  variety  of  interesting  questions  Mr.  Grim¬ 
shaw  put  to  him,  he  thought  that  he  would  question 
him  upon  a  point  of  some  curiosity  and  difficulty,  re¬ 
specting  his  translation.  Knowing  how  imperfect  bar¬ 
barous  languages  are,  and  how  inadequate  to  express 
any  abstract  idea,  Mr.  G.  requested  him  to  say  how  he 
translated  the  word  Saviour  in  the  Gospel.  Mr.  Kohl¬ 
meister  said,  “Your  question  is  remarkable,  and  per¬ 
haps  the  answer  may  be  so  too.  It  is  true  the  Esqui¬ 
maux  have  no  word  to  represent  the  Saviour,  and  I 
could  never  find  out  that  they  had  any  correct  notion  of 
such  a  friend.  But  I  said  to  them,  ‘Does  it  not  happen 
sometimes,  when  you  are  out  fishing,  that  a  storm  arises, 
and  some  of  you  are  lost,  and  some  saved1?’  They 
said,  ‘  0  yes,  very  often.’ — ‘  But  it  also  happens  that  you 
are  in  the  water,  and  owe  your  safety  to  some  brother 
or  friend  who  stretches  out  his  hand  to  help  you?’ — 

‘  Very  frequently.’ — ‘  Then  what  do  you  call  that  friend?’ 
They  gave  me  in  answer  a  word  of  their  language,  and 


ISAIAH  XX. 


129 


I  immediately  wrote  it  against  the  term  Saviour  in  Holy 
Writ,  and  ever  after  it  was  intelligible  to  them.” 

xx.  4. — The  King  of  Assyria  shall  lead  away 
the  Egyptians  prisoners,  and  the  Ethiopians  cap¬ 
tives,  young  and  old,  naked  and  barefoot. 

About  a  mile  from  the  new  town  of  St.  Nicholas,  in 
Russia,  Mr.  Howard,  the  philanthropist,  inspected  four 
rooms  for  sick  recruits  and  prisoners  of  war.  The 
number  crowded  into  these  rooms  was  upwards  of  three 
hundred,  many  of  whom  were  extremely  ill,  and  sup¬ 
plied  with  provisions  of  the  worst  quality.  Going  back 
to  the  town,  accompanied  by  the  physician  and  several 
officers,  he  found  fifty  objects  of  such  extreme  wretch¬ 
edness,  as,  in  the  whole  course  of  his  extensive  visits 
to  the  abodes  of  misery  and  vice,  he  had  never  before 
seen  together.  Most  of  them  were  recruits,  in  the  prime 
of  life,  many  of  whom  were  dying  upon  a  bed  of  hard, 
coarse  reeds,  without  linen  or  coverlids,  or  any  thing 
to  protect  them  but  a  few  remnants  of  their  old  clothes ; 
their  persons  indescribably  filthy,  and  their  shirts  in 
rags.  After  viewing  other  scenes  of  misery,  he  makes 
the  following  reflections : — “  Let  but  a  contemplative 
mind  reflect  a  moment  upon  the  condition  of  these  poor 
destitute  wretches,  forced  from  their  homes,  and  all 
their  dearest  connections,  and  compare  them  with  those 
one  has  seen,  cheerful,  clean,  and  happy,  at  a  wedding 
or  village  festival ; — let  them  be  viewed  quitting  their 
birth-place,  with  all  their  little  wardrobe,  and  their 
pockets  stored  with  rubles,  the  gifts  of  their  relations, 
who  never  expect  to  see  them  more ;  now  joining  their 
corps  in  a  long  march  of  one  or  two  thousand  wersts ; 
their  money  gone  to  the  officer  who  conducts  them,  and 
defrauds  them  of  the  government  allowance ;  arriving 
fatigued  and  half-naked  in  a  distant  dreary  country,  and 
exposed  immediately  to  military  hardships,  with  ha¬ 
rassed  bodies,  and  dejected  spirits  ;  and  who  can  won¬ 
der  that  so  many  droop  and  die  in  a  short  time,  without 
any  apparent  illness  1  The  devastations  I  have  seen 
made  by  war  among  so  many  innocent  people,  and  this 


130 


ISAIAH  XXIII. 


in  a  country  where  there  are  such  immense  tracts  of 
land  unoccupied,  are  shocking  to  human  nature.” 

xxi.  16. — Within  a  year  according  to  the  years 
of  an  hireling,  and  all  the  glory  of  Kedar  shall  fail. 

“I  remember,”  observes  one,  “having  heard  a  sensi¬ 
ble  person  say  he  could  never  covet  the  office  of  chief 
magistrate  of  London,  because  that  honour  continued 
only  one  year.  Might  not  the  idea  be  justly  extended 
to  all  the  honours  and  enjoyments  of  this  life  1  None 
of  them  are  permanent.” 

xxii.  12,  13. — In  that  day  did  the  Lord  God  of 
hosts  call  to  weeping,  and  to  mourning,  and  to 
baldness,  and  to  girding  with  sackcloth  : — And  be¬ 
hold  joy  and  gladness,  slaying  oxen  and  killing 
sheep,  eating  flesh  and  drinking  wine :  let  us  eat 
and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  shall  die. 

In  the  midst  of  the  distresses  with  which  France  was 
harassed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  VII.,  and  whilst  the 
English  were  in  possession  of  Paris,  Charles  amused 
himself  and  his  mistresses  with  balls  and  entertain¬ 
ments.  The  brave  La  Hire,  coming  to  Charles  one  day 
to  talk  to  him  on  some  business  of  importance,  whilst 
the  luxurious  Prince  was  occupied  in  arranging  one  of 
his  parties  of  pleasure,  was  interrupted  by  the  Mon¬ 
arch,  who  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  his  arrange¬ 
ment.  “I  think,  Sire,”  said  he,  “it  is  impossible  for 
any  one  to  lose  his  kingdom  more  pleasantly  than  your 
Majesty.” 

xxiii.  18. — Her  merchandise  and  her  hire  shall 
be  holiness  to  the  Lord. 

Mr.  Fisk,  in  giving  an  account  of  his  missionary  la¬ 
bours  in  Egypt,  says,  “I  have  also  become  acquainted 
with  the  masters  of  several  English  merchant  vessels, 
one  of  whom  I  learn  has  prayers  daily  with  his  men, 


ISAIAH  XXV. 


131 


and  reads  a  sermon  to  them  regularly  on  the  Sabbath. 
Another  has  given  me  an  interesting  account  of  the 
*  Floating  Ark,’  for  the  support  of  which  he  is  a  subscri¬ 
ber,  and  in  which  he  attends  worship  when  at  London. 
This  vessel,  he  says,  was  originally  a  sixty-four  gun 
ship,  was  purchased  by  a  company  of  merchants  in 
London,  and  application  was  then  made  to  them  by  the 
Port  of  London  Society,  to  obtain  it  as  a  place  of  wor¬ 
ship  for  seamen.  The  merchants  replied,  ‘  If  you  want 
it  for  that  purpose,  we  make  a  donation  of  it;  if  for 
any  other  object,  we  charge  you  £3000.’” 

xxiv.  15. — Glorify  ye  the  Lord  in  the  fires. 

Ann  Meiglo,  a  poor  distressed  woman  in  the  parish 
of  Portmoak,  when  visited  by  Mr.  Ebenezer  Erskine, 
said  to  him,  “O,  sir,  I  am  just  lying  here,  a  poor  use¬ 
less  creature.” — “Think  you,”  said  he.  “I  think,  sir, 
what  is  true,  if  I  were  away  to  heaven,  I  would  be  of 
some  use  to  glorify  God  without  sin.” — “Indeed,  Annie,” 
said  Mr.  Erskine,  “  I  think  you  are  glorifying  God  by 
your  resignation  and  submission  to  his  will,  and  that 
in  the  face  of  many  difficulties,  and  under  many  dis¬ 
tresses.  In  heaven  the  saints  have  no  burdens  to  groan 
under;  your  praises,  burdened  as  you  are,  are  more 
wonderful  to  me,  and,  I  trust,  acceptable  to  God.” 

xxv.  8. — He  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory. 

Mr.  Livingston,  speaking  of  Josias  Welsh,  says,  “  On 
the  Sabbath  afternoon  before  his  death,  which  was  on 
Monday  following,  I  heard  of  his  sickness,  and  came 
to  him  about  eleven  o’clock  at  night,  and  Mr.  Blair 
about  two  hours  thereafter.  He  had  many  gracious 
discoveries,  as  also  some  wrestling  and  exercise  of 
mind.  One  time  he  cried  out,  ‘  0  for  hypocrisy !’  on 
which  Mr.  Blair  said,  ‘See  how  Satan  is  nibbling  at  his 
heels  before  he  enter  into  glory.’  A  very  little  before 
he  died,  being  at  prayer  by  his  bedside,  and  the  word 
‘victory’  coming  out  of  my  mouth,  he  took  hold  of  my 
hand,  and  desiring  me  to  forbear  a  little,  and  clapping 
his  hands,  cried  out,  ‘  Victory,  victory,  victory,  for  ever- 


132 


ISAIAH  XXVIII. 


more  !’  He  then  desired  me  to  go  on,  and  in  a  little  ex 
pired.  His  death  happened  on  the  23d  of  June  1634.” 

xxvi.  19. — Thy  dead  men  shall  live,  together 
with  my  dead  body  shall  they  arise. 

A  man  in  Scotland,  who  had  some  years  before  buried 
his  wife,  and  several  of  his  children,  one  day  stood 
leaning  over  a  low  wall,  intently  gazing  on  the  spot  in 
the  church-yard,  where  he  had  deposited  their  dear  re¬ 
mains.  A  person  observing  his  thoughtful  attitude, 
asked  him  what  occupied  his  mind!  “I  am  looking,” 
he  said,  “  at  the  dust  that  lies  there,  and  wondering  at 
the  indissoluble  union  betwixt  it  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  in  glory.” 

xxvii.  5. — Let  him  take  hold  of  my  strength, 
that  he  may  make  peace  with  me ;  and  he  shall 
make  peace  with  me. 

“  I  think,”  says  one,  “  I  can  convey  the  meaning  of 
this  passage,  so  that  every  one  may  understand  it,  by 
what  took  place  in  my  own  family  within  these  few 
days.  One  of  my  little  children  had  committed  a  fault, 
for  which  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  chastise  him.  I  call¬ 
ed  him  to  me,  explained  to  him  the  evil  of  what  he  had 
done,  and  told  him  how  grieved  I  was  that  I  must  pun¬ 
ish  him  for  it.  He  heard  me  in  silence,  and  then  rush¬ 
ed  into  my  arms,  and  burst  into  tears.  I  could  sooner 
have  cut  off  my  arm  than  have  then  struck  him  for  his 
fault:  he  had  taken  hold  of  my  strength,  also  he  had 
made  peace  with  me.” 

xxviii.  9. — Whom  shall  he  teach  knowledge? 
and  whom  shall  he  make  to  understand  doctrine  ? 
them  that  are  weaned  from  the  milk,  and  drawn 
from  the  breasts. 

A  venerable  old  minister,  in  New  Hampshire,  lodg¬ 
ing  at  the  house  of  a  pious  friend,  observed  the  mother 


ISAIAH  XXX. 


133 


teaching  some  short  prayers  and  hymns  to  her  child¬ 
ren.  “  Madam,”  said  he,  “your  instructions  may  be  of 
far  more  importance  than  you  are  aware :  my  mother 
taught  me  a  little  hymn  when  a  child,  and  it  is  of  use 
to  me  to  this  day.  I  never  close  my  eyes  to  rest,  without 
first  saying — 

‘Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 

I  pray  thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  keep ; 

If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 

I  pray  thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  take.’  ” 

xxix.  8. — As  when  a  thirsty  man  dreameth, 
and  behold,  he  drinketh ;  but  he  awaketh,  and, 
behold,  he  is  faint,  and  his  soul  hath  appetite. 

Mr.  Park,  speaking  of  the  great  want  of  water  in 
Africa,  says,  “I  frequently  passed  the  night  in  the 
situation  of  Tantalus.  No  sooner  had  I  shut  my  eyes, 
than  fancy  would  convey  me  to  the  streams  and  rivers 
of  my  native  land ;  there,  as  I  wandered  along  the  ver¬ 
dant  bank,  I  surveyed  the  clear  stream  with  transport, 
and  hastened  to  swallow  the  delightful  draught;  but, 
alas  !  disappointment  awakened  me,  and  I  found  my¬ 
self  a  lonely  captive  perishing  of  thirst,  amidst  the 
wilds  of  Africa.” 

xxx.  10. — Prophesy,  not  unto  us  right  things; 
speak  unto  us  smooth  things,  prophesy  deceits. 

A  dissenting  minister,  preaching  very  practically, 
was  found  fault  with  by  his  people,  who  gave  him  to 
understand  that  they  must  part  with  him,  if  he  did  not 
alter  the  strain  of  his  preaching.  The  minister,  having 
a  family,  shrunk  for  a  time,  but  it  preyed  upon  his 
health,  which  his  wife  observing,  plainly  told  him  that 
he  distrusted  God  out  of  fear  of  man,  and  was  unfaith¬ 
ful;  and  begged  of  him  to  preach  according  to  his  con¬ 
science,  and  leave  the  event  to  God.  Accordingly  he 
did  so,  and  was  expelled.  But  just  at  that  time,  a 
larger  church,  with  a  better  salary,  and  a  more  lively 

12 


134 


ISAIAH  XXXII. 


people,  being  vacant,  he  was  invited  thither,  and  settled 
among  them ;  lived  in  plenty,  and  preached  with  ac¬ 
ceptance  and  usefulness,  till  removed  by  death. 

xxxi.  4. — The  lion  and  the  young  lion  roaring 
on  his  prey,  when  a  multitude  of  shepherds  is  called 
forth  against  him,  he  will  not  be  afraid  of  their 
voice,  nor  abase  himself  for  the  noise  of  them. 

An  instance  of  the  courage  of  the  lion  is  related  in 
the  account  of  one  which  had  broken  into  a  walled  en¬ 
closure  for  cattle.  The  people  of  the  farm,  with  the 
intention  of  destroying  him  on  his  return,  stretched  a 
rope  across  the  entrance  to  which  several  guns  were 
fastened  in  a  direction  to  discharge  their  contents  into 
his  body,  so  soon  as  he  should  push  against  the  cord 
with  his  breast.  But  the  lion  approached  the  rope,  and 
struck  it  away  with  his  foot;  and  without  showing  any 
alarm,  in  consequence  of  the  reports  of  the  guns,  he 
went  fearlessly  on,  and  devoured  the  prey  he  had  be¬ 
fore  left  untouched, 

xxxii.  2. — A  man  shall  be  as  an  hiding-place 
from  the  wind,  and  a  covert  from  the  tempest ;  as 
rivers  of  waters  in  a  dry  place ;  as  the  shadow  of 
a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land. 

A  pious  minister,  some  years  ago,  being  called  upon 
to  preach  a  sermon  for  the  benefit  of  a  Sabbath  School 
in  Northamptonshire,  .was  led  to  enlarge  in  his  dis¬ 
course  on  the  necessity  of  being  clothed  with  the  Re¬ 
deemer’s  righteousness,  as  the  only  means  of  security 
from  the  wrath  to  come.  While  speaking,  a  violent 
storm  of  thunder  and  lightning  came  on,  accompanied 
with  rain  and  hail.  The  lightning  struck  a  tree  in  the 
church-yard,  shivered  it  to  pieces,  and  drove  a  part  of 
it  through  one  of  the  windows.  The  congregation, 
alarmed,  began  to  fly  for  safety  in  all  directions.  The 
minister  entreated  them  to  remain  in  the  house  of  God; 
reminding  them,  that  if  they  were  protected  from  their 


ISAIAH  XXXIII. 


135 


sins  by  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  let  storms,  light¬ 
nings,  or  even  death  come,  they  were  perfectly  safe. 
In  pursuing  his  discourse,  his  attention  was  attracted 
to  one  of  the  Sabbath  school  girls,  who  was  standing 
near  the  pulpit,  and  who  appeared  to  be  peculiarly  im¬ 
pressed  by  the  sermon.  Calling  at  her  parent’s  house 
next  day,  the  mother  told  him  that  her  daughter  had 
met  with  a  disappointment,  as  she  expected  to  go  to  the 
fair  that  day ;  but  a  circumstance  had  occurred  that 
would  prevent  her.  “  What,  my  dear,”  said  the  minis¬ 
ter,  “are  you  fond  of  going  to  fairs'!”  The  child  im¬ 
mediately  replied,  “  O  no,  sir;  I  don’t  want  to  go  to  the 
fair;  I  now  only  want  to  be  clothed  in  that  robe  of 
righteousness  which  you  were  speaking  of  yesterday, 
that  I  may  see  Jesus  Christ.”  The  minister  entered 
into  conversation  with  her,  and  found  her  mind  so 
deeply  impressed,  that  he  had  good  reason  to  believe 
that  a  saving  change  was  wrought  on  her  soul.  He 
left  her,  intending  to  repeat  his  visit  next  day,  but  re¬ 
ceived  information  of  her  death ;  having  been  found 
dead  in  the  garden. 

xxxiii.  15. — That  shaketh  his  hands  from  hold¬ 
ing  of  bribes. 

The  borough  of  Hull,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  chose 
Andrew  Marvell,  a  young  gentleman  of  little  or  no  for¬ 
tune,  and  maintained  him  in  London  for  the  service  of 
the  public.  His  understanding,  integrity,  and  spirit, 
were  dreadful  to  the  then  infamous  administration. 
Persuaded  he  would  be  theirs,  if  properly  asked,  they 
sent  his  old  school-fellow,  the  lord  treasurer  Danby,  to 
renew  acquaintance  with  him  in  his  garret.  At  part¬ 
ing,  the  lord  treasurer  slipped  into  his  hand  £1000,  and 
then  went  to  his  chariot.  Marvell,  looking  at  the  pa¬ 
per,  called  after  the  Treasurer,  “  My  Lord,  I  request  an¬ 
other  moment.”  They  went  up  again  to  the  garret,  and 
the  servant  boy  was  called,  “  I  ask,  child,  what  had  I 
for  dinner  yesterday  V’  “  Don’t  you  remember,  sir,  you 
had  the  little  shoulder  of  mutton  that  you  ordered  me 
to  bring  from  a  woman  in  the  market.”  “Very  right, 
child.  What  have  I  for  dinner  to-day  1”  “Don’t  you 


136 


ISAIAH  XXXV, 


know,  sir,  that  you  bid  me  lay  by  the  blade-bone  to 
broill”  “It  is  so;  very  right,  child,  go  away.”  My 
Lord,  do  you  hear  that?  Andrew  Marvell’s  dinner  is 
provided;  there  is  your  piece  of  paper,  I  want  it  not;  I 
know  the  sort  of  kindness  you  intended;  I  live  here  to 
serve  my  constituents,  the  ministry  may  seek  men  for 
their  purpose ;  I  am  not  one.” 

xxxiv.  11. — The  raven  shall  dwell  in  it. 

In  the  centre  of  a  grove  near  Shelbourne,  there  stood 
an  oak,  which,  though  on  the  whole  shapely  and  tall, 
jutted  out  to  a  great  excrescence  near  the  middle  of  the 
stem.  On  this  tree  a  pair  of  ravens  had  made  their 
nest  for  so  many  years,  that  it  was  called  the  “  Raven- 
tree.”  Many  attempts  had  been  made  to  reach  the 
nest;  but  when  the  climbers  arrived  at  the  swelling,  it 
jutted  out  so  in  their  way,  and  was  so  far  beyond  their 
grasp,  that  the  boldest  were  defeated.  Thus  the  birds 
continued  to  build  unmolested,  till  the  fatal  day  on 
which  the  tree  was  to  be  levelled.  This  was  in  the 
month  of  February,  when  these  birds  usually  sit.  The 
saw  was  applied  to  the  trunk.  The  wedges  were  in¬ 
serted  into  the  opening,  the  woods  echoed  with  the 
heavy  sound  of  the, axe  and  the  mallet,  and  the  tree 
nodded  to  its  fall;  but  still  the  dam  persisted  in  sitting. 
At  last,  when  it  gave  way,  the  bird  was  flung  from  the 
nest,  and  though  her  parental  affection  deserved  a 
better  fate,  was  whipped  down  by  the  twigs,  which 
brought  her  dead  to  the  ground. 

xxxv.  10. — They  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness, 
and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away. 

During  the  last  illness  of  the  Rev.  John  Willison  of 
Dundee,  he  was  visited  by  Mr.  Ralph  Erskine;  and 
while  conversing  together  on  the  happiness  of  the  better 
country,  where  the  saints  are  perfect  in  knowledge  and 
in  love,  a  pious  lady  present,  who  was  warmly  attached 
to  the  national  church,  addressed  Mr.  Erskine  in  these 
words,  “Aye,  sir,  there  will  be  no  Secession  in  heaven.” 
“O,  Madam,”  he  instantly  replied,  “you  are  under  a 


ISAIAH  XXXVI. 


137 


mistake ;  for  in  heaven  there  will  be  a  complete  seces¬ 
sion  from  all  sin  and  sorrow.”  “With  pleasure,”  said 
Mr.  Willison,  “  do  I  adopt  that  view  of  Secession.” 

xxxvi.  13. — Rabshakeh  stood,  and  cried  with  a 
loud  voice  in  the  Jews’  language,  and  said,  Hear 
ye  the  words  of  the  great  king,  the  king  of  As¬ 
syria,  &c. 

In  the  reign  of  king  James  II.,  Mr.  Baxter  was  com¬ 
mitted  prisoner  to  the  King’s  Bench,  by  the  warrant  of 
Lord  Chief-Justice  Jefferies,  for  some  alleged  seditious 
passages  in  his  Paraphrase  on  the  New  Testament. 
When  brought  to  his  trial,  being  very  much  indisposed, 
he  moved,  by  his  counsel,  for  further  time;  but  the 
judge  cried  out  in  a  passion:  “I  will  not  give  him  a 
minute’s  time  to  save  his  life :  we  have  had  to  deal 
with  other  sorts  of  persons,  but  now  we  have  a  saint  to 
deal  with.  I  know  how  to  deal  with  saints  as  well  as 
sinners.  Yonder  stands  Oates  in  the  pillory,  and  he 
says  he  suffers  for  truth,  and  so  says  Baxter;  but  if 
Baxter  did  but  stand  on  the  other  side  of  the  pillory 
with  him,  I  would  say,  two  of  the  greatest  rogues  and 
rascals  in  the  kingdom  stood  there  !”  Mr.  Baxter,  be¬ 
ginning  to  speak  for  himself,  Jefferies  said  to  him, 
“  Richard,  Richard,  dost  thou  think  we  will  hear  thee 
poison  the  court  1  Richard,  thou  art  an  old  fellow,  an 
old  knave ;  thou  hast  written  books  enow  to  fill  a  cart, 
every  one  as  full  of  sedition,  I  may  say  treason,  as  an 
egg  is  full  of  meat.  Hadst  thou  been  whipt  out  of  thy 
writing  trade  forty  years  ago,  it  had  been  happy.  I 
know  thou  hast  a  mighty  party,  and  I  see  a  great  many 
of  the  brotherhood  in  corners,  to  see  what  will  become 
of  their  mighty  Don,  and  a  Doctor  of  the  party — mean¬ 
ing  Dr.  Bates — at  your  elbow;  but  by  the  grace  of  Al¬ 
mighty  God,  I’ll  crush  them  all.”  After  further  mock¬ 
ery  and  insult  from  this  blustering  judge,  Mr.  Baxter 
was  condemned  to  pay  a  heavy  fine,  and  to  remain  in 
prison  till  it  was  paid.  He  continued  in  prison  two 
years,  when,  from  a  change  of  measures,  he  was  set  at 
liberty. 


12  * 


138 


ISAIAH  XXXVIII. 


xxxvii.  19. — And  have  cast  their  gods  into  the 
lire  :  for  they  were  no  gods,  but  the  works  of  men’s 
hands,  wood  and  stone ;  therefore  they  have  de¬ 
stroyed  them. 

In  a  letter  written  by  a  French  Jesuit,  about  a  hun¬ 
dred  years  ago,  it  is  stated,  that  at  a  place  several 
leagues  westward  of  Madras,  some  masons,  who  had 
embraced  Christianity,  were  employed  by  a  Brahmin, 
to  repair  the  embankment  of  a  reservoir  of  water.  It 
is  customary  among  the  Hindoos,  to  place  in  such  sit¬ 
uations  a  number  of  small  idols  made  of  stone.  These 
the  workmen  designedly  buried  in  the  earth  which  they 
threw  up  to  strengthen  the  embankment.  The  Brah¬ 
min  coming  to  inspect  their  progress,  said,  “I  see  no¬ 
thing  of  our  gods;  what  have  you  done  with  them?” 
“  What  is  it  you  mean,  sir?”  replied  the  overseer;  “I 
saw  a  heap  of  stones,  which  I  thought  would  be  of  use 
to  strengthen  the  embankment;  but  as  for  gods,  I  saw 
nothing  of  the  kind.”  “Those  were  the  things  you 
ought  to  have  taken  care  of,”  said  the  Brahmin;  “did 
you  not  know  they  were  our  gods?”  “Those  things,” 
answered  the  overseer,  “I  understand  as  well  as  any 
body;  it  is  my  business  to  do  so;  and,  take  my  word 
for  it,  sir,  they  were  nothing  but  stones :  if  they  were 
gods,  as  you  say  they  are,  they  could  easily  get  up 
again  into  their  old  places.” 

xxxviii.  5. — I  have  heard  thy  prayer,  I  have 
seen  thy  tears :  behold,  I  will  add  unto  thy  days 
fifteen  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1799,  the  late  Rev.  T.  Charles,  of 
Bala,  met  with  an  afflicting  dispensation.  While  tra¬ 
velling  over  Mount  Migneint,  in  Carnarvonshire,  on  a 
freezing  night,  one  of  his  thumbs  became  frost-bitten. 
It  was  so  severely  affected,  that  he  was  taken  very  ill, 
and  his  life  was  in  danger.  To  prevent  mortification, 
it  was  deemed  necessary  to  have  it  amputated.  This 
affliction  was  very  trying,  both  to  his  family  and  to  his 


ISAIAH  XXXIX. 


139 


people.  When  he  was  considered  to  be  in  a  dangerous 
state,  a'special  prayer-meeting  was  called  by  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  chapel  at  Bala.  Fervent  supplications  were 
offered  up  in  his  behalf.  Several  prayed  on  the  occa¬ 
sion  ;  and  one  person  in  particular  was  much  noticed 
at  the  time,  for  the  very  urgent  and  importunate  man¬ 
ner  with  which  he  prayed.  Alluding  to  the  fifteen 
years  added  to  Hezekiah’s  life,  he  with  unusual  fer¬ 
vency,  entreated  the  Almighty  to  spare  Mr.  C.’s  life  at 
least  fifteen  years.  He  several  times  repeated  the  fol¬ 
lowing  words,  with  such  melting  importunity,  as  great¬ 
ly  affected  all  present: — “Fifteen  years  more,  0  Lord; 
we  beseech  thee  to  add  fifteen  years  more  to  the  life  of 
thy  servant.  And  wilt  thou  not,  O  our  God,  give  fifteen 
years  more  for  the  sake  of  thy  church  and  thy  cause  1” 
Mr.  C.  heard  of  this  prayer,  and  it  made  a  deep  impres¬ 
sion  on  his  mind.  He  afterwards  frequently  mentioned 
it  as  a  reason  why  he  should  make  the  best  use  of  his 
time,  saying,  that  his  fifteen  years  would  soon  be  com¬ 
pleted.  The  last  time  that  he  visited  South  Wales,  and 
was  asked  when  he  should  come  again,  his  answer 
was,  at  least  to  some,  that  his  fifteen  years  were  nearly 
up,  and  that  he  should  probably  never  visit  them  again. 
He  mentioned  this  to  several  of  his  friends  the  last 
year  of  his  life,  and  especially  to  his  wife.  It  is  re¬ 
markable,  his  death  occurred  just  at  the  termination  of 
the  fifteen  years.  What  is  not  less  remarkable,  it  was 
during  this  time  that  he  performed  the  most  important 
acts  of  his  life.  It  was  during  this  time  that  he  wrote 
the  most  valuable  of  his  works;  established  Sabbath 
schools ;  was  one  means  of  originating  the  Bible  So¬ 
ciety  ;  and  was  instrumental  in  doing  great  good  both 
to  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

xxxix.  8. — There  shall  be  peace  and  truth  in  my 
days. 

“  I  well  remember,”  says  Dr.  Gibbons,  “  that  discours¬ 
ing  with  the  late  Sir  Conyers  Jocelyn,  about  Mr.  Baxter 
and  Dr.  Watts,  he  pleasantly  but  very  truly  observed, 
nearly  in  these  words,  that  ‘  The  latter  went  to  heaven 
on  a  bed  of  down,  in  comparison  with  the  former.’  Such 


140 


ISAIAH  XLI. 


was  the  distinguishing  privilege  with  which  this  holy 
man  was  favoured,  not  only  to  his  own  great  Comfort, 
but  to  the  great  benefit  of  the  church  and  the  world, 
who  mjght,  had  his  feeble  frame  been  hunted  down  by 
persecution,  or  locked  up  in  a  damp  suffocating  prison, 
have  been  deprived,  in  a  great  measure,  of  his  numer¬ 
ous  and  useful  writings.” 

xl.  18. — To  whom  then  will  ye  liken  God?  or 
what  likeness  will  ye  compare  unto  him  ? 

One  day,  when  Mr.  Richards,  missionary  in  India, 
was  conversing  with  the  natives,  a  Fakeer  came  up, 
and  put  into  his  hand  a  small  stone  about  the  size  of  a 
sixpence,  with  the  impression  of  two  human  likenesses 
sculptured  on  the  surface;  he  also  proffered  a  few 
grains  of  rice,  and  said,  “This  is  Mahadeo.”  Mr. 
Richards  said,  “Do  you  know  the  meaning  of  Maha¬ 
deo'!”  The  Fakeer  replied,  “No.”  Mr.  R.  proceeded, 
“Mahadeo  means  the  great  God — He  who  is  God  of 
gods,  and  besides  whom  there  can  be  no  other.  Now, 
this  Great  God  is  a  Spirit;  no  one  can  see  a  spirit,  who 
is  intangible.  Whence,  then,  this  visible  impression 
on  a  senseless,  hard,  immovable  stone?  To  whom 
will  ye  liken  God  ?  or  what  likeness  will  ye  compare 
unto  Him  ?  God  is  the  high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabi¬ 
ted  eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy.  He  hath  said,  ‘  I 
am  Jehovah;  there  is  no  God  beside  me/ ”  The  poor 
Fakeer  was  serious,  respectful,  and  attentive;  continu¬ 
ally  exclaiming,  “Your  words  are  true.” 

xli.  10. — Fear  thou  not ;  for  I  am  with  thee. 

One  Sabbath,  lately,  Mr.  Winder,  at  Edgeworth-moor, 
near  Bolton,  was  preaching  from  the  preceding  text. 
He  commented  on  the  fear  of  death,  which  solemn  sub¬ 
ject  had  been  suggested  by  the  awfulness  of  the  thunder 
storm  which  then  hung  over  the  place.  The  preacher 
was  supposing  the  possibility  that  in  this  storm,  some 
one  or  more  present  might  be  struck  dead.  The  words 
had  just  escaped  his  lips,  when  the  lightning  broke  up¬ 
on  the  house,  shattering  or  removing  some  of  the  ma- 


ISAIAH  XLIII. 


141 


terials  of  the  building,  and  producing  great  consterna¬ 
tion  and  disorder  in  the  assembly.  No  serious  injury, 
however,  was  done,  and  after  some  degree  of  compo¬ 
sure  was  attained,  the  congregation  sung,  “Praise  God, 
from  whom  all  blessings  flow,”  and  prayed,  as  it  may 
be  supposed,  with  much  devotional  fervour. 

xlii.  10. — Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song,  and 
his  praise  from  the  end  of  the  earth,  ye  that  go 
down  to  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  therein. 

A  young  sailor  observed  to  a  gentleman  that  he 
should  never  forget  the  thrill  of  joy  that  he  felt  during 
his  last  voyage.  One  night,  or  rather  early  in  the  morn¬ 
ing,  a  fine  star-light  morning,  as  they  were  running 
down  the  trades,  with  the  sea  smooth  as  oil,  more  than 
two  thousand  miles  from  land,  and  at  that  time,  as  he 
thought,  equally  far  from  any  vessel  upon  the  vast  At¬ 
lantic,  he  started  from  his  monotonous  pacing  fore  and 
aft  upon  the  deck,  by  a  sound  like  a  burst  of  voices; 
he  at  first  conceived  it  to  be  the  dying  echoes  of  a 
fired  cannon,  probably  some  vessel  in  distress.  Again 
he  heard  it  in  loud  and  distinct  sounds,  and  found,  at 
length,  it  was  the  harmony  of  voices,  singing,  as  he 
judged  from  the  tune,  one  of  the  hymns  used  at  the  Be¬ 
thel  prayer-meetings.  The  voices  evidently  were  at  a 
great  distance,  but,  borne  over  the  wide  space  of  the 
water,  reached  in  soft  and  pleasing  music,  and  caused 
him  to  feel  a  joyful  recollection  of  the  song  heard  by 
the  shepherds  whilst  watching  their  flocks  by  night  in 
the  fields  of  Bethlehem.  When  the  morning  opened 
upon  them,  an  Engligh  ship  was  observed  to  the  west¬ 
ward.  “  Sir,”  said  he,  “  I  can  give  you  no  idea  of  my 
gladness  in  anticipating  that  the  day  was  coming,  and 
now  opened  upon  us  like  the  morning,  when  every  ship 
should  be  navigated  by  men  fearing  God,  and  working 
righteousness.” 

xliii.  7. — I  have  created  him  for  my  glory. 

Mr.  John  Thomson,  a  pious  merchant  in  Musselburgh, 
and  father-in-law  to  the  Rev.  John  Brown  of  Hadding- 


142 


ISAIAH  XLV. 


ton,  used  to  relate,  that  in  his  eleventh  year,  when  he 
was  walking  one  Sabbath  morning  to  public  worship 
in  the  church  of  Abbotshall,  he  was  arrested  by  the  im¬ 
portance  of  the  first  question  in  the  Shorter  Catechism, 
“  What  is  the  chief  end  of  man  1”  This  led  him  into  a 
train  of  inquiry,  which  was  the  means  in  the  hand  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  of  making  him  acquainted  with  the 
present  fallen  and  guilty  state  of  man,  and  of  the  only 
method  of  recovery,  through  the  mercy  of  God,  by  the 
righteousness  of  Christ. 

xliv.  9. — They  that  make  a  graven  image  are 
all  of  them  vanity ;  and  their  delectable  things 
shall  not  profit. 

One  day,  a  missionary  among  the  Gentoos,  took  with 
him  a  little  boy  from  the  school,  to  a  shady  place,  where 
many  people  were  passing,  and  set  him  to  read  aloud. — 
When  some  began  to  listen,  he  conversed  with  the  boy 
about  what  he  was  reading.  The  subject  was — the  ab¬ 
surdity  of  idolatry;  and  a  Brahmin  in  the  crowd  said, 
“  My  little  fellow,  why  do  you  speak  so  lightly  of  the 
gods  of  your  fathers  1”  The  boy  replied  in  a  loud 
voice,  “  Speak  lightly  of  them  !  Why,  they  have  eyes, 
and  see  not;  they  have  mouths,  and  speak  not;  they 
have  ears,  and  hear  not;  they  are  vanity  and  a  lie; 
and  why  not  speak  lightly  of  them'?”  The  Brahmin 
walked  away  confounded. 

xlv.  22. — Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth ;  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is 
none  else. 

When  the  Rev.  Andrew  Fuller  first  visited  Scotland, 
a  notoriously  wicked  and  abandoned  woman,  seeing  a 
number  of  persons  thronging  the  doors  of  a  chapel, 
felt  her  curiosity  awakened,  and  being  informed  that 
an  Englishman  was  to  preach,  she  mingled  with  the 
crowd,  and  entered  the  place.  Mr.  Fuller  took  the  pre¬ 
ceding  passage  for  his  text.  “  What,  then,”  she  ex¬ 
claimed  in  her  heart,  “  surely  there  is  hope  even  for 


ISAIAH  XLVIII. 


143 


me  !  Wretch  as  I  am,  I  am  not  beyond  the  ends  of  the 
earth.”  She  listened  with  eager  delight,  while  the  good 
man  proclaimed  the  free  salvation  of  the  gospel.  Hope 
sprung  up  in  her  heart,  a  hope  which  purified  as  well 
as  comforted;  and  the  grace  of  God  taught  her  to 
“  deny  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  and  to  live  sober¬ 
ly,  righteously,  and  godly,  in  the  present  world.” 

xlvi.  4. — Even  to  your  old  age,  I  am  he. 

A  friend  conversing  with  the  late  Mr.  Brown  of  Had¬ 
dington,  about  a  sermon  which  Mr.  B.  had  preached  on 
these  words,  “  Even  to  your  old  age,  I  am  he,”  he  ob¬ 
served  that  he  remembered  discoursing  on  this  text; 
and  then  added,  with  a  sort  of  cheerfulness,  “  I  must 
say,  that  I  never  yet  found  God  to  break  his  word  in 
this;  no,  notwithstanding  all  the  provocations  which  I 
have  given  him. 

xlvii.  1. — Come  down,  and  sit  in  the  dust,  O 
virgin  daughter  of  Babylon  ;  and  sit  on  the  ground  : 
there  is  no  throne,  O  daughter  of  the  Chaldeans. 

A  medal  was  struck  by  Vespasian  on  the  subjuga¬ 
tion  of  the  Jews :  on  the  reverse  is  seen  a  palm-tree, 
and  a  woman  sitting  on  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  it, 
with  her  head  leaning  on  her  arm,  weeping;  and  at  her 
feet  different  pieces  of  armour,  with  this  legend,  “Judea 
capta,”  (taken.)  Thus  was  exactly  fulfilled  the  saying 
of  the  same  prophet,  “And  she,  being  desolate,  shall 
sit  upon  the  ground.” 

xlviii.  10. — I  have  chosen  thee  in  the  furnace 
of  affliction. 

A  young  man,  who  lived  on  Rowley  Common,  Kent, 
and  had  been  a  very  profligate  character,  while  work¬ 
ing  as  a  mason,  fell  from  a  scaffolding  twenty  feet  high, 
and  was  seriously  injured.  Both  his  legs  were  broken, 
and  several  of  his  ribs,  and  his  spine  was  injured.  He 
lay  long  on  the  bed  of  affliction,  when  he  was  visited  by 
a  clergyman.  He  felt  deep  convictions  of  sin,  but  was 


144 


ISAIAH  L. 


ignorant  of  the  way  of  salvation  :  this  was  explained  to 
him;  he  received  with  eagerness  the  news  of  pardon 
through  the  atonement  of  Christ,  and  was  enabled  to 
commit  his  soul  into  the  Redeemer’s  hands.  His  nurse 
said,  “  When  I  went  to  him  first,  he  was  such  an  im¬ 
patient,  wicked-tempered  man,  that  it  was  impossible 
to  live  with  him;  but  a  gentleman  came  to  read  the 
Bible  to  him  for  some  days,  and  after  that  he  became 
like  a  child,  so  that  it  grieved  my  heart  to  leave  him.” 
On  his  sick-bed  he  learned  to  read  and  write,  and  his 
efforts  were  blessed  to  the  conversion  of  his  sister. 
He  died  in  peace. 

xlix.  23. — And  kings  shall  be  thy  nursing  fa¬ 
thers. 

Mr.  Leifchild  was  one  of  a  deputation  from  the  three 
denominations  of  dissenting  ministers  in  London,  who 
waited  on  his  late  majesty,  George  IV.  with  an  address 
on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  and  were  most  gracious¬ 
ly  received.  The  address  alluded  to  the  happiness  and 
protection  they  enjoyed  under  the  fostering  care  and 
parental  sway  of  his  beloved  and  revered  father,  and 
expressed  an  humble  but  earnest  hope,  that  he  would 
imitate  his  example,  and  follow  his  steps.  After  his 
majesty  had  read  the  written  answer,  and  before  they 
took  leave,  one  of  the  deputation  said,  they  feared  they 
had  occasioned  his  majesty  too  much  trouble :  when 
the  king  said,  “You  give  me  no  trouble,  my  friends ; 
I  derive  the  most  heartfelt  satisfaction  and  pleasure 
from  your  excellent  address.  It  will  be  the  endeavour 
of  my  life  to  imitate  the  example  of  my  beloved  father; 
and  be  assured,  while  I  sway  the  sceptre  of  these 
realms,  there  shall  not  be  the  smallest  bar  to  the  freest 
religious  toleration.” 

1.  6. — I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters,  and  my 
cheeks  to  them  that  plucked  off  the  hair :  I  hid 
not  my  face  from  shame  and  spitting. 

Mr.  Hanway,  in  his  Travels,  has  recorded  a  scene 


ISAIAH  LII. 


145 


very  much  resembling  that  alluded  to  by  the  prophet: 
— “A  prisoner  was  brought,  who  had  two  large  logs  of 
wood  fitted  to  the  small  of  his  leg,  and  rivetted  together; 
there  was  also  a  heavy  triangular  collar  of  wood  about 
his  neck.  The  general  asked  me  if  that  man  had  taken 
my  goods.  I  told  him  I  did  not  remember  to  have  seen 
him  before.  He  was  questioned  some  time,  and  at 
length  ordered  to  be  beaten  with  sticks,  which  was  per¬ 
formed  by  two  soldiers  with  such  severity,  as  if  they 
meant  to  kill  him.  The  soldiers  were  then  ordered  to 
spit  in  his  face,  an  indignity  of  great  antiquity  in  the 
East.  This,  and  the  cutting  of  beards,  which  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  mention,  brought  to  my  mind  the  suf¬ 
ferings  recorded  in  the  prophetical  history  of  our  Sa¬ 
viour,  Isaiah  1.  6.” 

li.  7. — Fear  ye  not  the  reproach  of  men,  neither 
be  ye  afraid  of  their  revilings. 

A  poor  man,  who  had  heard  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  whom  it  had  been  greatly  blessed,  was 
the  subject  of  much  profane  jesting  and  ridicule  among 
his  fellow-workmen  and  neighbours.  On  being  asked 
if  these  daily  persecutions  did  not  sometimes  make 
him  ready  to  give  up  his  profession  of  attachment  to 
divine  truth,  he  replied,  “No !  I  recollect  that  our  good 
minister  once  said  in  his  sermon,  that  if  we  were  so 
foolish  as  to  permit  such  people  to  laugh  us  out  of  our 
religion,  till  at  last  we  dropped  into  hell,  they  could  not 
laugh  us  out  again.” 

lii.  11. — Touch  no  unclean  thing ;  go  ye  out  of 
the  midst  of  her ;  be  ye  clean,  that  bear  the  ves¬ 
sels  of  the  Lord. 

A  little  girl,  between  four  and  five  years  of  age,  on 
her  return  from  hearing  a  preacher  whom  she  much 
loved,  said  to  her  mother,  “  Mother,  I  can  tell  you  a 
little  of  Mr.  H.’s  sermon :  he  said,  ‘  Touch  not  the  un¬ 
clean  thing.’  ”  Her  mother,  with  a  view  to  try  if  she 
understood  the  meaning  of  these  words,  replied,  “  Then, 

13 


146 


ISAIAH  LIV. 


if  Mr.  H.  said  so,  I  hope  you  will  take  care  not  to  touch 
things  that  are  dirty,  in  future.”  The  little  girl  smiled, 
and  answered,  “  O,  mother,  I  know  very  well  what  he 
meant.”  “  What  did  he  mean  1”  said  her  mother. 
“He  meant  sin,  to  be  sure,”  said  the  child;  “and  it  is 
all  the  same  as  if  Mr.  H.  had  said,  ‘You  must  not  tell 
lies,  nor  do  what  your  mother  forbids  you  to  do,  nor 
play  on  Sunday,  nor  be  cross,’  nor  do  any  such  things 
as  these,  mother.” 

liii.  5. — He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions, 
he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities. 

The  late  Rev.  William  Shrubsole  of  Sheerness,  one 
holiday,  casually  took  up  a  folio  volume,  written  by 
Isaac  Ambrose.  He  opened  it,  and  began  to  read  that 
part  of  it  which  treats  of  “Looking  to  Jesus,”  as  carry¬ 
ing  on  the  work  of  man’s  salvation  in  his  death.  He 
was  much  affected  at  the  relation  of  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  and  sensibly  interested  at  the  inquiry  which  the 
author  makes, — Who  were  the  persons  that  brought  the 
Divine  Sufferer  into  so  much  distress  1  “I  was  con¬ 
vinced,”  he  said,  “that  I  was  deeply  concerned  in  that 
horrid  transaction ;  and  from  this  time  I  date  the  Lord 
first  penetrated  my  dark  mind  with  the  dawn  of  hea¬ 
venly  light  and  salvation.” 

liv.  7,  8. — For  a  small  moment  have  I  forsaken 
thee;  but  with  great  mercies  will  I  gather  thee. 

Mr.  White,  on  the  power  of  godliness,  says,  “A  pre¬ 
cious  holy  man  told  me  of  a  woman  that  was  six  years 
in  desertion ;  and  by  God’s  providence,  hearing  Mr. 
Rollock  preach,  she  of  a  sudden  fell  down,  overwhelm¬ 
ed  with  joy,  crying  out,  ‘  O,  he  is  come,  whom  my  soul 
lovethf  and  so  was  carried  home  for  dead:  and  for 
divers  days  after,  she  was  filled  with  exceeding  joys, 
and  had  such  pious  and  singularly  ravishing  expres¬ 
sions,  so  fluently  coming  from  her,  that  many  came  to 
hear  the  rare  manifestations  of  God’s  grace  in  her; 
and  amongst  the  rest  that  went  to  hear,  there  was  one 
that  could  write  short-hand,  who  yet  a  great  while  stood 


ISAIAH  LVII. 


147 


so  amazed  at  her  expressions,  that  he  could  not  write; 
at  last,  recovering  himself,  he  wrote  a  whole  sheet  of 
paper;  which  this  minister  read,  and  told  me,  that  of 
all  the  expressions  that  ever  he  read  in  the  book  of 
martyrs,  or  elsewhere,  he  never  read  any  so  high  as  the 
lowest  of  them.” 

lv.  6. — Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found, 
call  ye  upon  him  while  he  is  near. 

A  young  man,  on  whom  sentence  of  death  was  pass¬ 
ed,  said,  two  days  before  his  execution,  “  I  am  afraid 
that  nothing  but  the  fear  of  death  and  hell  makes  me 
seek  the  Saviour  now,  and  that  I  cannot  expect  to  find 
him.  The  words,  ‘  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  he  may  be 
found,’  trouble  my  mind  very  much,  as  they  show  me 
that  there  is  a  time  when  he  may  not  be  found.” 

Ivi.  2. — Blessed  is  the  man — that  keepeth  the 
Sabbath  from  polluting  it. 

A  gentleman,  who  had  been  using  the  boat  of  Thomas 
Mann,  a  pious  waterman  on  the  Thames,  asked  him  if 
he  did  not  make  seven  days  in  a  week!  “No,  sir,” 
replied  Thomas  ;  “  I  hope  I  know  better  than  to  do  that. 
That  would  be  taking  what  does  not  belong  to  me. 
The  Lord’s  day  is  not  mine ;  and  therefore  I  never 
work  on  that  day.” 

lvii.  15. — I  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place, 
with  him  also  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble 
spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble,  and  to 
revive  the  heart  of  the  contrite  ones. 

At  one  time,  when  Ebenezer  and  Ralph  Erskine  both 
preached  on  the  Monday  after  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord’s  Supper  at  Glasgow,  the  former  delivered  an  ex¬ 
cellent  discourse,  with  his  accustomed  animation  and 
dignity,  while  the  latter  fell  considerably  short  of  his 
usual  fluency  and  fervour.  Shortly  after  the  close  of 
the  worship,  when  the  two  brothers  had  an  opportunity 


148 


ISAIAH  LIX. 


of  conversing  privately  together,  Ebenezer  gently  inti¬ 
mated  to  Ralph,  that  it  appeared  to  him,  the  sermon  he 
had  preached  that  day,  was  not  so  substantial  and  in¬ 
teresting  as  usual;  on  which  Ralph  made  a  reply  to 
this  effect;  “True,  brother;  but  if  my  poor  sermon 
humble  me,  perhaps  I  shall  reap  greater  advantage 
from  it,  than  you  from  your  great  sermon.” 

lviii.  1. — Cry  aloud,  spare  not;  lift  up  tby 
voice  like  a  trumpet,  and  show  my  people  their 
transgression  and  the  house  of  Jacob  their  sins. 

The  energy  of  the  Rev.  Rowland  Hill’s  manner  at 
times,  and  the  power  of  his  voice,  were  almost  over¬ 
whelming.  Once,  at  Wotton,  he  was  completely  car¬ 
ried  away  by  the  impetuous  rush  of  his  feelings,  and, 
raising  himself  to  his  full  stature,  he  exclaimed,  “  Be¬ 
cause  I  am  in  earnest,  men  call  me  enthusiast;  but  I 
am  not;  mine  are  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness. 
When  I  first  came  into  this  part  of  the  country,  I  was 
walking  on  yonder  hill;  I  saw  a  gravel  pit  fall  in,  and 
bury  three  human  beings  alive.  I  lifted  up  my  voice 
for  help  so  loud,  that  I  was  heard  in  the  town  below,  at 
a  distance  of  a  mile;  help  came,  and  rescued  two  of 
the  poor  sufferers.  No  one  called  me  an  enthusiast 
then ;  and  when  I  see  eternal  destruction  ready  to  fall 
upon  poor  sinners,  and  about  to  entomb  them  irrecover¬ 
ably  in  an  eternal  mass  of  wo,  and  call  aloud  to  them 
to  escape,  shall  I  be  called  an  enthusiast  now  1  No, 
sinner,  I  am  not  an  enthusiast  in  so  doing;  I  call  on 
thee  aloud  to  fly  for  refuge  to  the  hope  set  before  thee 
in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.” 

lix.  21. — My  words  which  I  have  put  in  thy 
mouth,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor  out 
of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth 
of  thy  seed’s  seed. 

Mr.  Philip  Henry,  in  a  sermon  preached  in  1659, 
mentioned  it  as  the  practice  of  a  worthy  gentleman, 
that,  in  renewing  his  leases,  instead  of  making  it  a 


ISAIAH  LXI. 


149 


condition  that  his  tenants  should  keep  a  hawk  or  a  dog 
for  him,  he  obliged  them  that  they  should  keep  a  Bible 
in  their  houses  for  themselves,  and  should  bring  up 
their  children  to  learn  to  read,  and  to  be  catechized. 
“This,”  said  the  gentleman,  “will  be  no  charge  to  you, 
and  it  may  oblige  them  to  that  which  otherwise  they 
would  neglect.” 


lx.  20. — Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down ; 
neither  shall  thy  moon  withdraw  itself :  for  the 
Lord  shall  be  thine  everlasting  light,  and  the  days 
of  thy  mourning  shall  be  ended. 

The  narrator  of  the  loss  of  the  Kent  remarks,  “Some 
of  the  soldiers  near  me  having  remarked  that  the  sun 
was  setting,  I  looked  round,  and  never  can  I  forget  the 
feelings  with  which  I  regarded  his  declining  rays.  I 
had  previously  felt  deeply  impressed  with  the  convic¬ 
tion  that  the  ocean  was  to  be  my  bed  that  night;  and 
had,  I  imagined,  sufficiently  realized  to  my  mind,  both 
the  last  struggles  and  the  consequences  of  death.  But 
as  I  continued  solemnly  watching  the  departing  beams 
of  the  sun,  the  thought  that  it  was  really  the  very  last  I 
should  ever  behold,  gradually  expanded  into  reflections, 
the  most  tremendous  in  their  import.  It  was  not,  I  am 
persuaded,  either  the  retrospect  of  a  most  unprofitable 
life,  or  the  direct  fear  of  death,  or  of  judgment,  that  oc¬ 
cupied  my  mind  at  the  period  I  allude  to ;  but  a  broad, 
illimitable  view  of  eternity  itself.  I  know  not  whither 
the  thought  would  have  hurried  me,  had  I  not  speedily 
seized,  as  with  the  grasp  of  death,  on  some  of  those 
sweet  promises  of  the  gospel,  which  give  to  an  immor¬ 
tal  existence  its  only  charms  ;  and  that  naturally  enough 
led  back  my  thoughts,  by  means  of  the  brilliant  object 
before  me,  to  the  contemplation  of  that  *  blessed  city, 
which  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  to 
shine  in  it;  for  the  glory  of  God  doth  lighten  it,  and  the 
Lamb  is  the  light  thereof.’” 


Ixi.  1. — The  Lord  hath  anointed  me  to  preach 

13  * 


150 


ISAIAH  LXIII. 


good  tidings  unto  the  meek  :  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind 
up  the  broken-hearted. 

Daring  a  time  of  great  awakening  in  America, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  Whitefield,  Mr.  Row¬ 
land,  a  truly  pious  and  eloquent  man,  being  invited  to 
preach  in  the  Baptist  church  of  Philadelphia,  pro¬ 
claimed  the  terrors  of  the  divine  law  with  such  energy 
to  those  whose  souls  were  already  sinking  under  them, 
that  not  a  few  fainted  away.  His  error,  however,  was 
publicly  corrected  by  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent,  who, 
standing  at  the  foot  of  the  pulpit,  and  seeing  the  effect 
produced  on  the  assembly,  interrupted  and  arrested  the 
preacher  by  this  address  : — “  Brother  Rowland,  is  there 
no  balm  in  Gilead  1 — is  there  no  physician  there  V’ 
Mr.  Rowland,  on  this,  immediately  changed  the  tenor 
of  his  address,  and  sought  to  direct  to  the  Saviour  those 
who  were  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  their  guilt.” 

lxii.  6. — I  have  set  watchmen  upon  thy  walls, 
O  Jerusalem,  which  shall  never  hold  their  peace 
day  nor  night :  ye  that  make  mention  of  the  Lord, 
keep  not  silence. 

“Those  people,”  says  one,  “are  in  the  road  to  ruin, 
who  say  to  their  ministers,  as  the  Jews  did  of  old  to 
their  prophets — ‘  Prophesy  not or  what  amounts  to  the 
same  thing,  ‘speak  unto  us  smooth  things,  prophesy 
deceits.’  I  well  remember  having  read  in  an  ancient 
author,  the  following  remarkable  and  appropriate  ac¬ 
count: — ‘News  came  to  a  certain  town,  once  and  again, 
that  the  enemy  was  approaching ;  but  he  did  not  then 
approach.  Hereupon  in  anger  the  inhabitants  enacted 
a  law,  that  no  man,  on  pain  of  death,  should  bring 
again  such  rumours,  as  the  news  of  an  enemy.  Not 
long  after,  the  enemy  came,  indeed;  besieged,  assaulted, 
and  sacked  the  town,  of  the  ruins  of  which  nothing  re¬ 
mained,  but  this  proverbial  epitaph — Here  once  stood  a 
town  that  was  destroyed  by  silence.” 

lxiii.  16.- — Doubtless  thou  art  our  Father. 


ISAIAH  LXV. 


151 


“I  have  been  told  of  a  good  man,”  says  Mr.  M.  Henry, 
“  among  whose  experiences,  which  he  kept  a  record  of, 
after  his  death,  this,  among  other  things,  was  found, 
that  such  a  time  in  secret  prayer,  his  heart,  at  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  duty,  was  much  enlarged,  in  giving  to 
God  those  titles  which  are  awful  and  tremendous,  in 
calling  him  the  great,  the  mighty,  and  the  terrible  God; 
but  going  on  thus,  he  checked  himself  with  this  thought, 
‘And  why  not  my  Father!’” 

Ixiv.  8. — We  are  the  clay,  and  thou  our  potter. 

During  the  siege  of  Barcelona  by  the  Spaniards  and 
English  in  the  war  of  the  succession,  in  1705,  an  af¬ 
fecting  incident  occurred,  which  is  thus  related  by  Cap¬ 
tain  Carleton  in  his  memoirs.  “  I  remember  I  saw  an 
old  officer,  having  his  only  son  with  him,  a  tine  man 
about  twenty  years  of  age,  going  into  the  tent  to  dine. 
Whilst  they  were  at  dinner,  a  shot  from  the  bastion  of 
St.  Antonio  took  off  the  head  of  his  son.  The  father 
immediately  rose  up,  first  looking  down  upon  his  head¬ 
less  child,  and  then  lifting  up  his  eyes  to  heaven,  whilsi 
the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks,  only  said,  Thy  will  be 
done.” 

lxv.  25. — I  am  found  of  them  that  sought 
me  not. 

Mr.  Whitefield  relates,  in  one  of  his  sermons,  the 
conversion  of  a  Mr.  Crane,  who  was  afterwards  ap¬ 
pointed  steward  of  the  Orphan-House  in  Georgia.  Be¬ 
ing  determined  to  spend  an  evening  at  the  play-house, 
he  went  first  to  Drury-Lane,  but  the  house  being  quite 
full,  he  resolved  to  go  to  Covent-Garden ;  having  got 
thither,  he  found  that  house  full  also,  so  that  he  could 
not  gain  admittance.  He  was  determined,  however,  to 
get  entertainment  some  way  or  other;  and  therefore  set 
off  to  hear  Mr.  Whitefield.  It  pleased  God  to  apply  the 
sermon  with  power  to  his  heart,  and  render  it  effectual 
to  his  conversion;  the  reality  of  which  appeared  in  the 
fruits  of  a  holy  life. 


152 


JEREMIAH  II. 


lxvi.  23.— From  one  Sabbath  to  another,  shall 
all  flesh  come  to  worship  before  me,  saith  the  Lord. 

Mr.  Thomas  Hawkes,  a  respectable  and  pious  trades¬ 
man  in  London,  when  about  to  go  to  church  one  Lord’s 
day,  was  sent  for,  to  attend  on  a  person  of  high  rank, 
about  some  worldly  affairs.  Mr.  H.  expressed  his  sur¬ 
prise  to  the  groom,  and  asked  him  if  he  knew  what  day 
it  was,  and  intimated  that  the  message  must  certainly 
refer  to  the  next  day.  The  groom  assured  him  that  was 
not  the  case ;  but  that  his  master  must  see  him  imme¬ 
diately.  He  then  desired  the  groom  to  present  his  duty 
to  the  distinguished  personage,  and  inform  him  that  he 
always  made  a  point  of  attending  the  worship  of  God 
on  that  day ;  but  that  he  would  wait  on  the  illustrious 
individual  next  morning;  which  accordingly  he  did, 
and  was  received  with  wonted  civility. 

— • — 

JEREMIAH. 

Chap.  i.  8. — Be  not  afraid  of  their  faces  ;  for  I  am 
with  thee  to  deliver  thee,  saith  the  Lord. 

Mr.  Maurice,  one  of  the  non-conformist  ministers  in 
Shropshire,  experienced  many  remarkable  deliverances 
in  the  providence  of  God,  when  in  danger  of  being  ap¬ 
prehended  by  his  enemies  after  his  ejection.  At  one 
time,  a  constable  found  him  preaching,  and  commanded 
him  to  desist;  but  Mr.  Maurice,  with  great  courage, 
charged  him  in  the  name  of  the  Great  God,  whose 
message  he  was  then  delivering,  to  forbear  molesting 
him,  as  he  would  answer  it  at  the  great  day.  The  con¬ 
stable,  awed  by  his  solemn  manner,  sat  down  trembling, 
heard  him  patiently  to  the  end  of  his  discourse,  and 
then  quietly  left  him. 

ii.  26. — The  thief  is  ashamed  when  he  is  found. 

Robert  A - ,  foreman  to  a  respectable  nurseryman 


JEREMIAH  IV. 


153 


at  some  distance  from  town,  who  had  lived  with  his 
employers  ten  years,  and  had  a  good  character,  one  Sa¬ 
turday  night,  after  applying  for  his  wages,  claimed  pay 
for  a  young  man  up  to  that  day,  whom  he  had  dis¬ 
charged  some  days  before.  His  master  said,  looking 
him  steadily  in  the  face,  “  Robert,  do  you  want  to  cheat 
me,  by  asking  wages  for  a  man  that  you  discharged 
yourself  eight  days  ago  l”  He  had  no  sooner  said  this, 
than  the  miserable  conscience-stricken  man’s  blood 
forsook  his  face,  as  if  he  had  been  stabbed  to  the  heart. 
When  his  master  saw  him  so  much  affected,  he  told 
him  that  he  might  still  labour  as  he  had  done,  but  that 
after  such  a  manifestly  dishonest  attempt,  his  charac¬ 
ter,  and  the  confidence  in  it,  were  gone  for  ever.  On 
Monday,  Robert  made  his  appearance,  but  was  utterly 
an  altered  man.  The  agitation  of  his  mind  had  reduced 
his  body  to  the  feebleness  of  an  infant’s.  He  took  his 
spade  and  tried  to  use  it,  but  in  vain ;  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  he  reached  home.  He  went  to  bed  im¬ 
mediately  ;  medical  aid  was  procured,  but  to  no  pur¬ 
pose,  and  the  poor  fellow  sunk  under  the  sense  of  his 
degradation,  and  expired  on  Wednesday  forenoon  !  His 
neighbours  who  attended  him,  say,  that  a  short  time 
before  he  died,  he  declared,  that  the  agony  consequent 
on  the  loss  of  his  character  as  an  honest  man,  which 
he  had  for  so  many  years  maintained,  was  the  sole 
cause  of  his  death 

iii,  15. — I  will  give  you  pastors  according  to 
mine  heart,  which  shall  feed  you  with  knowledge 
and  understanding. 

The  late  Rev.  Robert  Hall  of  Bristol  was  once  asked 
what  he  thought  of  a  sermon  which  had  been  delivered 
by  a  proverbially  fine  preacher,  and  which  had  seemed 
to  excite  a  great  sensation  among  the  congregation  : — 
“Very  fine,  sir,”  he  replied,  “but  a  man  cannot  feed 
upon  flowers.” 

iv.  22. — They  are  sottish  children,  and  they 


154 


JEREMIAH  VI. 


have  none  understanding  :  they  are  wise  to  do  evil, 
but  to  do  good,  they  have  no  knowledge. 

A  gay  young  fellow,  whc  piqued  himself  on  the  char¬ 
acter  of  a  libertine,  was  expatiating  upon  the  qualifica¬ 
tions  necessary  to  form  a  perfect  and  accomplished  de¬ 
bauchee  ;  when,  having  finished  his  tirade,  he  turned 
to  one  of  the  company  present,  who  seemed  to  receive 
this  sally  very  gravely,  and  whom,  therefore,  he  wished  - 
to  insult,  and  asked  his  opinion.  Not  at  all  discon¬ 
certed  at  his  insolence,  the  gentleman  replied  very 
drily,  “  It  appears  to  me,  sir,  that  you  have  omitted  two 
of  the  most  important  and  essential  qualifications.” 
“Indeed!  and  pray  what  may  they  be  I”  “An  exces¬ 
sively  weak  head,  and  a  thoroughly  bad  heart.”  The 
rake  was  silent,  and  soon  afterwards  left  the  company. 

v.  22. — Fear  ye  not  me?  saith  the  Lord,  which 
have  placed  the  sand  for  the  bound  of  the  sea  by  a 
perpetual  decree,  that  it  cannot  pass  it:  and  though 
the  waves  thereof  toss  themselves,  yet  can  they  not 
prevail;  though  they  roar,  yet  can  they  not  pass 
over  it. 

Thomas  Mann,  a  pious  waterman  on  the  Thames, 
being  once  employed  to  row  a  party  of  pleasure,  one 
of  the  number,  a  young  lady,  proposed  singing  “Rule 
Britannia,”  when  Mann  remarked,  that  he  had  heard 
Mr.  Newton  say,  “  God  rules  the  waves,  not  Britannia.” 

vi.  10. — The  word  of  the  Lord  is  unto  them  a 
reproach :  they  have  no  delight  in  it. 

The  Rev.  John  Eliot,  styled,  The  Apostle  of  the  In¬ 
dians,  was  once  asked  by  a  pious  woman,  who  was 
vexed  with  a  wicked  husband,  and  bad  company  fre¬ 
quently  infesting  her  house  on  his  account,  what  she 
should  do?  “Take,”  said  he,  “the  Holy  Bible  into 
your  hand  when  bad  company  comes  in,  and  that  will 
soon  drive  them  out  of  the  house.” 


JEREMIAH  IX. 


155 


vii.  9,  10. — Will  ye  steal,  murder,  and  commit 
adultery,  and  swear  falsely — and  come  and  stand 
before  me  in  this  house,  which  is  called  by  my 
name  ? 

Two  Greeks  notorious  for  their  piracies  and  other 
crimes,  were  lately  tried  and  condemned,  and  three 
days  after  executed.  In  the  course  of  the  trial,  it  ap¬ 
peared  that  the  beef  and  anchovies,  on  board  one  of  the 
English  vessels  which  they  pirated,  were  left  untouched, 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were  left,  ap¬ 
peared  to  the  court  so  peculiar,  that  the  culprits  were 
asked  the  cause  of  it.  They  promptly  answered,  that 
it  was  at  the  time  of  the  great  fast  when  their  church 
eat  neither  meat  nor  fish !  They  appeared  to  be  most 
hardened  and  abandoned  wretches,  enemies  alike  to 
their  own  and  every  other  nation,  and  yet  rigidly  main¬ 
taining  their  religious  character;  and  while  they  were 
robbing,  plundering,  and  murdering,  and  stealing  the 
women  and  children  of  their  countrymen,  and  selling 
them  to  the  Turks,  and  committing  other  atrocious 
deeds,  they  would  have  us  understand  that  they  were 
not  so  wicked  as  to  taste  meat  or  fish,  when  prohibited 
by  the  canons  of  their  church  ! 

viii.  9. — They  have  rejected  the  word  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  what  wisdom  is  in  them  ? 

A  gentleman  was  arguing  with  a  deist  on  the  absur¬ 
dity  of  rejecting  Christianity  without  examination.  He 
owned  that  he  never  knew  a  person  examine  the  sub¬ 
ject,  who  did  not  afterwards  embrace  it;  but  excused 
himself  from  examining,  under  the  plea  that  to  do  so 
was  analogous  to  drinking  brandy  which  always  pro¬ 
duced  intoxication.  “Is  it  not  honourable  to  Christian¬ 
ity,”  says  the  gentleman,  “  to  have  enemies,  who  must 
give  up  the  exercise  of  their  reason  before  they  reject 
it  I” 


ix.  23. — Let  not  the  wise  man  glory  in  his 
wisdom. 


156 


JEREMIAH  XII. 


In  1201,  Simon  Tournay,  after  he  had  excelled  all 
his  contemporaries  at  Oxford  in  learning,  and  became 
so  eminent  at  Paris  as  to  be  made  the  chief  doctor  of 
the  Sorbonne,  grew  so  proud,  that  while  he  regarded 
Aristotle  as  superior  to  Moses  and  Christ,  he  considered 
him  as  but  equal  to  himself!  He  became  such  an 
idiot  at  length,  as  not  to  know  one  letter  in  a  book,  or 
one  thing  he  had  ever  done. 

x.  25. — Pour  out  thy  fury  upon  the  heathen 
that  know  thee  not,  and  upon  the  families  that  call 
not  on  thy  name. 

A  credible  historian  informs  us,  that  about  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  years  ago,  there  was  an  earthquake  in 
Switzerland,  by  which  part  of  a  mountain  was  thrown 
down,  which  fell  upon  a  village  that  stood  under  it,  and 
crushed  every  house  and  inhabitant  to  atoms,  except 
the  corner  of  one  cottage,  where  the  master  of  the 
house  with  his  family  were  together  praying  unto  God. 

xi.  19. — Let  us  cut  him  off  from  the  land  of 
the  living. 

“You  take  a  life  from  me  that  I  cannot  keep,”  said 
one  of  the  martyrs  to  his  persecutors,  “and  bestow  a 
life  upon  me  that  I  cannot  lose ;  which  is  as  if  you 
should  rob  me  of  counters,  and  furnish  me  with  gold.” 

xii.  5. — Plow  wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of 
Jordan  ? 

The  Rev.  Richard  Hooker,  just  before  his  death,  said, 
“  I  have  lived  to  see  that  this  world  is  made  up  of  per¬ 
turbations  ;  and  I  have  been  long  preparing  to  leave  it, 
and  gathering  comfort  for  the  dreadful  hour  of  making 
my  account  with  God,  which  I  now  apprehend  to  be 
near ;  and  though  I  have,  by  his  grace,  loved  him  in 
my  youth,  and  feared  him  in  my  age,  and  laboured  to 
have  a  conscience  void  of  offence  to  him,  and  to  all 
men;  yet  if  thou,  Lord,  shouldst  be  extreme  to  mark 


JEREMIAH  XIV. 


157 


what  I  have  done  amiss,  who  can  abide  it?  And, 
therefore,  where  I  have  failed,  Lord,  show  mercy  to 
me;  for  I  plead  not  my  righteousness,  but  the  forgive¬ 
ness  of  my  unrighteousness,  for  his  merits,  who  died 
to  purchase  a  pardon  for  penitent  sinners.” 

xiii.  17. — But  if  ye  will  not  hear  it,  my  soul 
shall  weep  in  secret  places  for  your  pride. 

A  gay,  dissipated  young  man,  went  one  day  to  his 
pious  mother,  and  said,  “  Mother,  let  me  have  my  best 
clothes,  I  am  going  to  a  ball  to-night.”  She  expostu¬ 
lated  with  him,  and  urged  him  not  to  go,  by  every  argu¬ 
ment  in  her  power.  He  answered,  “Mother,  let  me 
have  my  clothes.  I  will  go,  and  it  is  useless  to  say  any 
thing  about  it.”  She  brought  his  clothes ;  he  put  them 
on,  and  was  going  out.  She  stopped  him,  and  said, 
“My  child,  do  not  go.”  He  said  he  would;  she  then 
said  to  him,  “My  son,  while  you  are  dancing  with  your 
gay  companions  in  the  ball-room,  I  shall  be  out  in  that 
wilderness  praying  to  the  Lord  to  convert  your  soul.” 
He  went;  the  ball  commenced;  but  instead  of  the 
usual  gaiety,  an  unaccountable  gloom  pervaded  the 
whole  assembly.  One  said,  “We  never  had  such  a 
dull  meeting  in  our  lives;”  another,  “I  wish  we  had 
not  come,  we  have  no  life,  we  cannot  get  along;”  a 
third,  “  I  cannot  think  what  is  the  matter.”  The  young 
man  instantly  burst  into  tears,  and  said,  “I  know  what 
is  the  matter;  my  poor  old  mother  is  now  praying  in 
yonder  wilderness  for  her  ungodly  son.”  He  took  his 
hat,  and  said,  “I  will  never  be  found  in  such  a  place 
as  this  again,”  and  left  the  company.  To  be  short,  the 
Lord  converted  his  soul.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
church — was  soon  after  taken  ill — and  died  happy. 

xiv.  22. — Are  there  any  among  the  vanities  of 
the  Gentiles  that  can  cause  rain  1  or  can  the  hea¬ 
vens  give  showers  ?  Art  thou  not  he,  O  Lord  our 
God  ?  therefore  we  will  wait  upon  thee  ;  for  thou 

hast  made  all  these  things. 

14 


•158 


JEREMIAH  XVII. 


A  youth  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  called  Joseph 
Banks,  after  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Captain  Cook’s  com¬ 
panion,  had  been  much  abroad,  and  was  a  shrewd  ob¬ 
server  of  all  that  came  under  his  notice.  One  day, 
when  he  was  disputing  against  the  superstitions  of  his 
country,  a  priest  affirmed,  that,  if  the  mareas,  or  temples, 
were  forsaken,  there  would  be  no  rain,  and  every  thing 
would  be  burnt  up.  He  replied,  “In  England  and 
America  there  are  no  idols,  no  tabus,  yet  there  is  plenty 
of  rain  there,  and  fine  crops  too.  In  Tahiti  and  Hua- 
hine  they  have  broken  the  tabus,  and  destroyed  the 
idols,  and  worship  the  God  of  the  white  men,  yet  the 
rain  falls  there,  and  the  fruits  grow  as  abundantly  as 
ever.  And  why  should  not  rain  fall,  and  the  ground 
produce  food  here  as  well  as  elsewhere,  when  these 
senseless  things  are  done  away!”  The  priest  was 
confounded 

xv.  16. — Thy  word  was  unto  me  the  joy  and 
rejoicing  of  mine  heart. 

“  I  have  many  books,”  says  Mr.  Newton,  “  that  I  can¬ 
not  sit  down  to  read ;  they  are  indeed  good  and  sound, 
but,  like  halfpence,  there  goes  a  great  quantity  to  a 
little  amount.  There  are  silver  books,  and  a  very  few 
golden  books ;  but  I  have  one  book  worth  more  than 
all,  called  the  Bible,  and  that  is  a  book  of  bank-notes.” 

xvi.  17. — Mine  eyes  are  upon  all  their  ways. 

One  of  the  heathen  philosophers  recommended  it  to 
his  pupils,  as  the  best  means  to  induce  and  enable  them 
to  behave  worthily,  to  imagine  that  some  very  distin¬ 
guished  character  was  always  looking  upon  them. 
But  what  was  the  eye  of  a  Cato  to  the  eye  of  God! 
Who  would  not  approve  themselves  unto  him !  The 
celebrated  Linnaeus  had  the  following  inscription  placed 
over  the  door  of  the  hall  in  which  he  gave  his  lectures: 
— “  Live  guiltless — God  observes  you.” 

xvii.  14. — Lord,  save  me. 

A  minister  asked  the  maid  at  an  inn  in  the  Nether- 


JEREMIAH  XVIII. 


159 


lands,  if  she  prayed  to  God  ?  She  replied,  “  She  had 
scarce  time  to  eat,  how  should  she  have  time  to  pray  1” 
He  promised  to  give  her  a  little  money,  if  on  his  re¬ 
turn  she  could  assure  him  she  had  meanwhile  said 
three  words  of  prayer,  night  and  morning.  Only  three 
words  and  a  reward,  caught  her  promise.  He  solemnly 
added,  “  Lord,  save  me  !”  For  a  fortnight  she  said  the 
words  unmeaningly;  but  one  night  she  wondered  what 
they  meant,  and  why  he  bade  her(  repeat  them.  God 
put  it  into  her  heart  to  look  at  the  Bible,  and  see  if  it 
would  tell  her.  She  liked  some  verses  where  she  open¬ 
ed  so  well,  that  next  morning  she  looked  again,  and  so 
on.  When  the  good  man  went  back,  he  asked  the 
landlord  for  her,  as  a  stranger  served  him.  “  Oh,  sir! 
she  got  too  good  for  my  place,  and  lives  with  the  min¬ 
ister!”  He  went  to  the  minister’s  house.  So  soon  as 
she  saw  him  at  the  door,  she  cried,  “Is  it  you,  you 
blessed  man1?  I  shall  thank  God  through  all  eternity 
that  I  ever  saw  you;  I  want  not  the  money,  I  have  re¬ 
ward  enough  for  saying  those  words !”  She  then  de¬ 
scribed  how  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ  was  taught  her 
by  the  Bible,  in  answer  to  this  prayer. 


xviii.  12. — They  said,  There  is  no  hope ;  but 
we  will  walk  after  our  own  devices,  and  we  will 
every  one  do  the  imagination  of  his  evil  heart. 

A  young  woman,  whom  Dr.  Gifford  visited  in  prison, 
and  who  was  to  be  tried  for  her  life,  heard  him  speak  a 
good  while  in  an  awful  strain,  not  only  unmoved,  but  at 
last  she  laughed  in  his  face.  He  then  altered  his  tone, 
and  spoke  of  the  love  of  Jesus,  and  the  mercy  provided 
for  chief  sinners,  till  the  tears  came  in  her  eyes,  and 
she  interrupted  him .  by  asking,  “  Why  ;  do  you  think 
there  can  be  mercy  for  me!”  He  said,  “Undoubtedly, 
if  you  can  desire  it.”  She  replied,  “Ah!  if  I  had 
thought  so,  I  should  not  have  been  here;  I  have  long 
fixed  it  in  my  mind  that  I  was  absolutely  lost,  and  with¬ 
out  hope,  and  this  persuasion  made  me  obstinate  in  my 
■wickedness,  so  that  I  cared  not  what  I  did.”  She  was 
afterwards  tried,  and  sentenced  to  transportation,  and 


160 


JEREMIAH  XXI. 


Dr.  Gifford,  who  saw  her  several  times,  had  a  good  hope 
that  she  was  truly  converted  before  she  left  England. 

xix.  1. — They  have  filled  this  place  with  the 
blood  of  innocents. 

Mr.  Ellis  informs  us,  that  during  the  year  1829,  Mr. 
Williams,  a  missionary  to  the  South  Sea  Islands,  had 
one  day  sitting  in  his  room  three  females,  the  eldest  not 
more  than  forty  years  of  age.  The  subject  of  the  mur¬ 
der  of  infants  was  introduced,  and  he  remarked  that 
perhaps  some  of  them  had  been  guilty  of  the  crime. 
On  inquiry,  these  females  reluctantly  confessed  that 
they  had  destroyed  not  fewer  than  twenty-one  infants ! 
One  had  murdered  nine,  another  seven,  and  the  other 
five.  Nor  did  it  appear  that  these  women  had  been 
more  guilty  than  their  neighbours. 

« 

xx.  9. — Then  I  said,  I  will  not  make  mention  of 
him,  nor  speak  any  more  in  his  name. 

The  late  Mr.  Clark  of  Trowbridge,  one  Sabbath  after¬ 
noon,  said  to  his  wife,  “My. dear,  I  can  never  preach 
again ;  I  have  told  my  people  all  I  have  to  say.”  She 
said,  “But  you  will  disappoint  the  people,  and  whom 
can  we  engage  for  to-night  I”  He  still  urged  that  he 
should  be  unable  to  say  any  thing,  when  a  woman  was 
introduced,  who  said  she  had  come  a  long  way  to  beg 
Mr.  Clark  to  preach  from  this  text,  “Then  I  said,  I  will 
not  make  mention  of  him,  nor  speak  any  more  in  his 
name:  but  his  word  was  in  mine  heart  as  a  burning 
fire  shut  up  in  my  bones,  and  I  was  weary  with  forbear¬ 
ing,  and  I  could  not  stay.”  He  saw  the  finger  of  God 
in  it,  and  preached  from  that  text  in  the  evening,  and 
was  never  after  at  any  loss. 

xxi.  6. — I  will  smite  the  inhabitants  of  this  city, 
— and  they  shall  die  of  a  great  pestilence. 

In  a  letter,  dated  August  30,  1830,  the  Rev.  William 
Glen  gives  the  following  account  of  the  ravages  of  the 
Asiatic  cholera  in  Astrachan : — “  In  general,  business 


JEREMIAH  XXII. 


161 


of  every  kind  was  at  a  stand.  The  bank  suspended  its 
operations.  In  the  bazaars  not  a  whisper  was  to  be 
heard,  and  scarcely  a  face  to  be  seen ;  even  the  public 
houses  were  abandoned,  and  a  general  gloom  was 
spread  over  the  countenances  of  the  few  solitary  indi¬ 
viduals  that  were  to  be  seen  walking  through  the 
streets.  According  to  the  best  authenticated  accounts, 
when  the  disease  was  at  its  height,  the  number  of  fu¬ 
nerals,  on  one  particular  day,  was  five  hundred,  and  on 
another  day  four  hundred  and  eighty.  More  than  one 
thousand  were  buried  about  that  time  in  a  large  pit,  for 
want  of  graves,  which  could  not  be  got  dug  so  fast  as  re¬ 
quired,  nor  at  a  rate  the  poor  could  afford  to  pay  for 
them.  Such  a  time  we  have  never  seen,  nor  do  I  sup¬ 
pose  that  such  a  time  was  ever  seen  in  Astrachan.” 

xxii.  30. — Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Write  ye  this 
man  childless,  a  man  that  shall  not  prosper  in  his 
days  :  for  no  man  of  his  seed  shall  prosper,  sitting 
upon  the  throne  of  David,  and  ruling  any  more  in 
Judah. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Douglas,  an  eminently  pious  minister 
in  Edinburgh,  had  usually  the  subjects  of  his  discourses 
so  forcibly  impressed  on  his  mind,  that  he  seldom  or 
never  had  any  anxiety  in  choosing  a  text.  Having  been 
appointed  to  preach  at  the  coronation  of  Charles  II.  at 
Scoon,  the  above  passage  was  suggested  to  him  as  a 
text.  The  good  man  was  troubled  what  to  do.  To 
preach  from  it,  would  bring  down  the  vengeance  of  the 
court — to  reject  it,  would  perhaps  expose  him  to  Divine 
chastisement.  After  much  anxious  and  painful  deli¬ 
beration,  he  resolved  to  choose  another,  as  much  suited 
to  the  occasion  as  possible.  The  text  he  selected  was 
2  Kings  xi.  12. — “And  he  brought  forth  the  king’s  son, 
and  put  the  crown  upon  him,  and  gave  him  the  testi¬ 
mony:  and  they  made  him  king,  and  anointed  him; 
and  they  clapped  their  hands,  and  said,  God  save  the 
king.”  It  is  remarkable  that,  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  he  laboured  under  great  difficulty  in  choosing 
the  subjects  of  his  discourses;  the  wonted  aid  from 

14  * 


162 


JEREMIAH  XXIV. 


above  appearing  to  be  withheld,  as  a  correction  for  his 
sin,  in  resisting  convictions  of  duty,  from  the  fear  of 
man  that  bringeth  a  snare. 

xxiii.  32. — I  sent  them  not,  nor  commanded 
them ;  therefore  they  shall  not  profit  this  people 
at  all,  saith  the  Lord. 

When  two  or  three  gentlemen,  in  company  with  the 
late  Rev.  Robe rt,-'ff all  of  Bristol,  were  discussing  the 
question — WhmSper  a  man  of  no  religion  can  be  a  suc¬ 
cessful  minister  of  the  gospel  1 — surprise  was  expressed 
that  Mr.  Hall  remained  silent.  “  Sir,”  said  he  in  reply, 
“  I  would  not  deny  that  a  sermon  from  avbad  man  may 
sometimes  do  good;  but  the  general  quest  ion  does  not 
admit  of  an  argument.  Is  it  at  all  probable  that  he 
who  is  a  willing  servant  of  Satan,  will  r^ht  against 
him  with  all  his  might!  and,  if  not,  what  success  can 
be  rationally  expected!” 

xxiv.  5. — Them  that  are  carried  away  captive 
of  Judah,  whom  I  have  sent  out  of  this  place  into 
the  land  of  the  Chaldeans  for  their  good. 

A  missionary  in  India,  passing  one  day  through  the 
school-room,  observed  a  little  boy  engaged  in  prayer, 
and  overheard  him  saying,  “  O  Lord  Jesus,  I  thank  thee 
for  sending  big  ship  into  my,  country,  and  wicked  men 
to  steal  me,  and  bring  me  he^e  that  I  might  hear  about 
thee,  and  love  thee;  and  ndlwTjord  Jesus,  I  have  one 
great  favour  to  ask  thee,  please  to  send  wicked  men 
with  another  big  ship,  and  let  them  catch  my  father 
and  my  mother,  and  bring  them  to  this  country,  that 
they  may  hear  the  missionaries  preach,  and  love  thee.” 
The  missionary  in  a  few  days  after,  saw  him  standing 
on  the  sea-shore,  looking  very  intently  as  the  ships 
came  in.  “What  are  you  looking  at,  Tom !”  “I  am 
looking  to  see  if  Jesus  Christ  answer  prayer.”  For 
two  years  he  was  to  be  seen  day  after  day,  watching 
the  arrival  of  every  ship.  One  day,  as  the  missionary 
was  viewing  him,  he  observed  him  capering  about,  and 


JEREMIAH  XXVI. 


163 


exhibiting  the  liveliest  joy.  “  Well,  Tom,  what  occa¬ 
sions  so  much  joy]”  “O,  Jesus  Christ  answer  prayer 
— father  and  mother  come  in  that  ship which  was  ac¬ 
tually  the  case. 

xxv.  27. — Drink  ye  and  be  drunken,  and  spue, 
and  fall,  and  rise  no  more. 

A  man  in  North  America,  who,  for  several  years,  had 
been  guilty  of  occasional  excess,  was,  for  a  week  prior 
to  his  death,  intoxicated  every  day,  and  abused  his 
family  unmercifully.  The  morning  of  the  day  on 
which  he  died,  he  said  to  his  wife,  with  a  horrible  oath, 
“  When  I  drink  another  glass  of  rum,  I  hope  God  Al¬ 
mighty  will  strike  me  dead !”  He  immediately  went  to 
a  public  house — drank  rum  while  there — filled  his  jug 
— and,  returning,  beat  his  wife,  and  knocked  her  to  the 
floor,  though  her  peculiar  situation  demanded  the  most 
kind  and  aifectionate  treatment  from  her  husband.  A 
little  before  two  o’clock  in  the  afternoon,  he  took  his 
jug,  and,  going  to  another  room,  said,  “I  swear  I  will 
drink  till  I  die,  let  it  be  longer  or  shorter.”  His  wife 
expostulated,  when  he  swore  he  would  do  so,  calling 
the  Saviour  to  witness.  He  expired  before  three 
o’clock ;  ill  prepared,  there  is  every  reason  to  fear,  for 
his  departure. 

xxvi.  2. — Speak  unto  all  the  cities  of  Judah, 
which  come  to  worship  in  the  Lord’s  house,  all 
the  words  that  I  command  thee  to  speak  unto 
them ;  diminish  not  a  word. 

The  Rev.  J.  Brewer’s  (of  Birmingham)  manner  of 
expounding  the  Scriptures  was  very  instructive  and 
useful ;  and  his  general  style  of  preaching  was  that, 
which,  by  way  of  distinction  and  eminence,  has  been 
called  scriptural,  because  it  embodies  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  sentiment  and  language  of  holy  writ.  This  pe¬ 
culiar  character  of  his  preaching,  Mr.  Brewer  attribu¬ 
ted,  in  a  great  degree,  to  a  remark  of  the  Rev.  Edmund 
Jones,  a  minister  in  Wales,  who,  after  hearing  his 


164 


JEREMIAH  XXVIII. 


young  friend  preach,  said  to  him,  when  he  came  down 
from  the  pulpit,  “Young  man,  I  love  to  hear  the  sound 
of  scripture  in  a  sermon.”  It  was  a  word  in  season, 
and  he  never  forgot  it.  “It  did  me  more  good,”  said 
Mr.  Brewer,  “  than  all  my  studies.” 

xxvii.  9. — Hearken  not  to  your  sorcerers. 

“Of  the  power  of  this  superstition,”  (sorcery,)  says 
Mr.  Stewart  in  his  Journal,  “we  had  a  proof  in  a  na¬ 
tive  of  our  own  household.  A  thief  was  put  to  flight 
from  our  yard  one  day,  while  we  were  at  dinner.  A 
lad  joined  in  the  chase,  and  seized  the  culprit,  but  lost 
his  hold  by  the  tearing  of  his  kichei,  or  outer  garment. 
The  thief  was  greatly  exasperated,  and  immediately 
engaged  a  sorcerer  to  pray  the  boy  to  death.  Informa¬ 
tion  of  this  reached  the  lad  in  the  course  of  the  after¬ 
noon  ;  and  we  soon  perceived  him  to  be  troubled  by  the 
intelligence,  though  he  attempted  with  us  to  ridicule 
the  superstition.  The  next  morning  he  did  not  make 
his  appearance  with  the  other  boys ;  and  upon  inquir¬ 
ing  from  them,  they  said  he  was  sick.  We  asked  the 
nature  of  this  sickness;  to  which  it  was  replied,  that 
“  he  was  sick  from  the  prayer  of  sorcery,  perhaps.” 
We  found  him  lying  in  one  corner  of  his  house,  pale 
with  fear,  and  trembling  like  an  aspen  leaf,  and  discov¬ 
ered  that  he  had  not  slept  during  the  night:  we  were 
satisfied  that  the  whole  arose  from  terror;  and  com¬ 
pelled  him,  notwithstanding  his  declarations  that  he 
was  sick,  to  come  from  his  retreat,  diverted  his  mind, 
set  him  at  work,  and  before  noon  he  was  as  full  of  life 
and  spirits  as  ever,  laughed  at  his  fears,  and  began  to 
defy  the  power  of  the  ‘  sorcerer’s  prayer.’  ” 

xxviii.  16. — This  year  thou  shalt  die. 

An  intimate  friend  of  President  Davies  of  New- 
Jersey  College,  told  him  a  few  days  before  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  year  in  which  he  died,  that  a  sermon  on  the 
first  day  of  it  would  be  expected  from  him ;  mention¬ 
ing,  that  it  was  President  Burr’s  custom  to  do  so ;  and 
that  on  the  new-year’s  day  preceding  his  death,  he 
preached  from  Jer.  xxviii.  16.  “Thus  saith  the  Lord, 


JEREMIAH  XXX. 


165 


This  year  thou  shalt  die which  the  people  had  after¬ 
wards  regarded  as  premonitory.  When  the  first  of 
January  came,  Mr.  Davies  preached  from  the  same 
text;  and  being  seized  with  his  last  illness  soon  after, 
said,  he  had  been  led  to  preach,  as  it  were,  his  own 
funeral  sermon.  Mr.  Davies  often  referred  to  this  re¬ 
markable  circumstance  on  his  death-bed. 

xxix.  12,  13. — Ye  shall  go  and  pray  unto  me, 
and  I  will  hearken  unto  you. — And  ye  shall  seek 
me,  and  find  me,  when  ye  shall  search  for  me 
with  all  your  heart. 

A  person,  in  addressing  some  children  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  prayer,  described  its  importance  and  advantages ; 
and  explained  the  difference  between  praying  and  say¬ 
ing  prayers.  A  boy  in  the  first  class,  whose  attention 
had  been  arrested  by  the  subject,  was  powerfully  af¬ 
fected  by  the  impressive  manner  in  which  this  duty 
was  urged  upon  the  children.  He  reflected,  that  though 
he  had  daily  been  in  the  habit  of  saying  his  pray¬ 
ers,  yet  he  then  felt  convinced  that  he  never  prayed  as 
he  ought  to  have  done.  He  left  the  school  under  a 
deep  concern  for  his  soul’s  welfare,  and  on  reaching 
home,  retired  to  a  private  apartment  in  the  house,  and 
sought,  the  Lord  in  prayer  with  his  whole  heart.  He 
did  not  seek  in  vain.  He  obtained  mercy,  through  the 
blood  of  Christ.  He  joined  in  church-fellowship,  be¬ 
came  a  useful  teacher  in  a  school,  and  has  continued 
to  adorn  the  doctrine  of  the  Saviour  by  a  becoming 
conversation. 

xxx.  19. — I  will  multiply  them,  and  they  shall 
not  be  few ;  I  will  also  glorify  them,  and  they 
shall  not  be  small. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  “Narrative  of  the 
State  of  Religion  within  the  bounds  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  the  United  States  of  America,  and  Corres¬ 
ponding  Churches,  May  1832:” — 


166 


JEREMIAH  XXXI. 


“  It  is  our  delightful  privilege  to  report,  that  sixty- 
eight  Presbyteries  have  been  blessed  with  the  special 
influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  reviving  the  churches, 
and  bringing  perishing  sinners  to  the  saving  knowledge 
of  the  truth.  In  these  highly  favoured  Presbyteries, 
about  seven  hundred  congregations  are  reported  as 
having  been  thus  visited  in  rich  mercy.  In  many  of 
these  places,  thus  refreshed  by  the  showers  of  divine 
grace,  the  displays  of  the  power  of  the  Gospel  have 
been  glorious,  almost  beyond  example.  Several  Pres¬ 
byteries  have  had  their  whole  territory  pervaded  by  a 
heavenly  influence,  and  every  congregation  has  become 
a  harvest-field  for  the  ingathering  of  souls  to  the  fold 
of  the  Good  Shepherd.  These  bodies  send  us  the  ani¬ 
mating  message,  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  their  churches 
have  enjoyed  a  precious  season  of  revival.  ‘Never,’ 
says  the  report  from  West  Hanover,  ‘have  we  had  the 
privilege  of  recording  so  many  signal  triumphs  of  Al¬ 
mighty  grace.  The  angel  having  the  everlasting  gos¬ 
pel  in  his  hand,  has  passed  through  our  borders,  and 
has  brought  salvation  to  almost  every  house.  So  pow¬ 
erful  and  extensive  have  been  the  divine  influences 
among  us,  that  one  district  is  known  where  not  one 
adult  could  be  found,  unconcerned  upon  the  subject  of 
religion.  On  some  occasions,  a  whole  congregation, 
without  one  exception,  have  been  prostrated  before 
God,  anxiously  inquiring  for  salvation.  Eighteen  of 
our  congregations  have  been  revived,  and  in  one  of 
them,  three  hundred  hopeful  conversions  have  taken 
place.’  ” 

xxxi.  15. — A  voice  was  heard  in  Ramah,  la¬ 
mentation,  and  bitter  weeping ;  Rachel  weeping 
for  her  children,  refused  to  be  comforted  for  her 
children,  because  they  were  not. 

One  day,  while  the  lady  of  Sir  Stamford  Raffles  was 
almost  overwhelmed  with  grief  for  the  loss  of  a  favour¬ 
ite  child,  unable  to  bear  the  sight  of  her  other  children 
— unable  to  bear  even  the  light  of  day — humbled  upon 
her  couch  with  a  feeling  of  misery,  she  was  addressed 


JEREMIAH  XXXIII. 


167 


by  a  poor,  ignorant,  uninstructed  native  woman,  of  the 
lowest  class,  who  had  been  employed  about  the  nursery, 
in  terms  of  reproach  not  to  be  forgotten.  “I  am  come 
because  you  have  been  here  many  days  shut  up  in  a 
dark  room,  and  no  one  dares  to  come  near  you.  Are 
you  not  ashamed  to  grieve  in  this  manner  when  you 
ought  to  be  thanking  God  for  having  given  you  the 
most  beautiful  child  that  ever  was  seen  1  Did  any  one 
ever  see  him,  or  speak  of  him,  without  admiring  him  1 
And  instead  of  letting  this  child  continue  in  this  world 
till  he  should  be  worn  out  with  trouble  and  sorrow, 
has  not  God  taken  him  to  heaven  in  all  his  beauty  1 
What  would  you  have  more  1  For  shame  ! — leave  off 
weeping,  and  let  me  open  a  window.” 

xxxii.  19. — Great  in  counsel,  and  mighty  in 
work. 

A  person  at  dinner  with  Mr.  Newton  of  London,  re* 
marked  that  the  East  India  Company  had  overset  the 
college  at  Calcutta.  “  What  a  pity !”  said  a  gentleman 
present.  “  No,”  said  Mr.  N.,  “  no  pity — it  must  do  good. 
If  you  had  a  plan  in  view,  and  could  hinder  opposition, 
would  you  not  prevent  it  I” — “Yes,  sir.” — “Well,  God 
can  hinder  all  opposition  to  his  plans :  he  has  per- 
mitted  that  to  take  place,  but  he  will  carry  on  his  own 
plan.  I  am  learning  to  see  God  in  all  things :  I  believe 
not  a  person  knocks  at  my  door  but  is  sent  by  God.” 

( 

xxxiii.  16. — The  Lord  our  Righteousness. 

“If  it  be  shameful  to  renounce  error,”  says  Mr.  Her- 
vey,  “and  sacrifice  all  to  truth,  I  do  very  willingly  take 
this  shame  to  myself.  In  a  copy  of  verses  which  I  for¬ 
merly  wrote,  sacred  to  the  memory  of  a  generous  bene¬ 
factor,  I  remember  the  following  lines : — 

‘Our  wants  relieved  by  thy  indulgent  care 
Shall  give  thee  courage  at  the  dreadful  bar, 

And  stud  the  crown  thou  shalt  for  ever  wear.’ 

These  lines,  in  whatever  hands  they  are  lodged,  and 


163 


JEREMIAH  XXXIV. 


whatever  else  of  a  like  kind  may  have  dropt  from  my 
pen,  I  now  publicly  disclaim ;  they  are  the  very  reverse 
of  my  present  belief,  in  which  I  hope  to  persevere  as 
long  as  I  have  any  being.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  sup¬ 
pose  that  any  work  of  mine  should,  in  order  to  create 
my  peace,  or  cherish  my  confidence,  be  coupled  with 
Christ’s  most  holy  acts.  I  speak  the  words  of  our 
church,  and  I  speak  the  sense  of  the  prophet,  ‘  I  will 
trust,  and  not  he  afraid wherefore  ?  because  I  am  in¬ 
herently  holy  1  No,  rather  God  is  my  salvation ;  God  ma¬ 
nifest  in  the  flesh  has  finished  my  transgression,  and 
made  an  end  of  my  sin ;  and  in  this  most  magnificent 
work  will  I  rejoice. — Thy  Maker  is  thy  Husband:  the 
consequence  of  which  is,  all  thy  debts  and  deficiencies 
are  upon  him,  all  his  consummate  righteousness  is  upon 
thee.” 

xxxiv.  9. — That  every  man  should  let  his  man¬ 
servant,  and  every  man  his  maid-servant,  being 
an  Hebrew  or  an  Hebrewess,  go  free. 

After  Dr.  Hopkins  of  North  America  had  become  im¬ 
pressed  with  the  sinfulness  of  slavery,  he  did  much,  in 
his  intercourse  with  his  brethren,  to  awaken  their  at¬ 
tention  to  the  subject,  and  to  convince  them  of  their 
obligations  to  discountenance  that  enormity.  Visiting 
at  the  house  of  Dr.  Bellamy  of  Connecticut,  who  was 
at  that  time  the  owner  of  a  slave,  he,  with  his  wonted 
candour,  pressed  the  subject  upon  the  attention  of  his 
friend.  Dr.  B.  endeavoured  to  defend  the  practice  by 
the  usual  arguments ;  but  Dr.  H.  having  successfully 
refuted  them,  called  upon  him  immediately  to  free  his 
slave.  In  answer  to  this  demand,  it  was  urged,  that 
the  slave  was  a  most  faithful  and  judicious  servant; 
that  in  his  management  of  the  doctor’s  farm  he  could 
be  trusted  with  every  thing;  and  that  he  was  so  happy 
in  his  servitude,  that  he  would,  in  the  opinion  of  his 
master,  refuse  his  freedom,  were  it  offered  to  him. 
“  Will  you  consent  to  his  liberation,”  said  Dr.  Hopkins, 
“if  he  really  desires  it!” — “Yes,”  replied  Dr.  B.,  “I 
will.”  The  slave  was  then  at  work  in  the  field.  “Call 
him,”  said  Dr.  H.,  “  and  let  us  try.”  The  slave  came 


JEREMIAH  XXXVI. 


169 


to  receive,  as  he  supposed,  the  commands  of  his  master. 
“Have  you  a  good  master  1”  said  Dr.  Hopkins,  ad¬ 
dressing  the  slave.  “0  yes,  massa;  he  very  good.” — 
“Are  you  happy  in  your  present  condition]” — “  O  yes, 
massa ;  me  very  happy.” — “  Would  you  be  more  happy 
if  you  were  free]” — “0  yes,  massa;  me  would  be 
much  more  happy.”  —  “You  have  your  desire,”  ex¬ 
claimed  Dr.  Bellamy;  “from  this  moment  you  are 
free.” 

xxxv.  6. — We  will  drink  no  wine :  for  Jonadab 
the  son  of  Rechab,  our  father,  commanded  us,  say¬ 
ing,  Ye  shall  drink  no  wine,  neither  ye,  nor  your 
sons  for  ever. 

Among  a  few  individuals  who  lately  met  at  a  Christ¬ 
mas  supper  in  a  public-house,  there  happened  to  be  a 
tradesman  who  belonged  to  the  Temperance  Society. 
His  unprincipled  companions  thought  it  too  good  an 
opportunity  to  be  lost  of  working  the  fall  of  the  poor 
man,  and  of  injuring  the  general  cause  of  temperance. 
They  accordingly  made  use  of  every  artifice  in  order 
to  induce  him  to  drink  the  poisonous  cup,  though  with¬ 
out  success,  when  the  landlady,  who  had  been  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  proceeding,  immediately  stepped  be¬ 
tween  them,  and  declared  that,  as  he  had  joined  the 
Temperance  Society,  no  one  should  give  him  one  drop 
of  whiskey  in  her  house,  but  that  if  he  chose  he  might 
have  ale  or  porter.  The  poor  man,  being  thus  sup¬ 
ported,  took  courage ;  but,  wisely  considering  that  it 
was  unsafe  for  him  to  take  even  ale  or  porter  in  such 
company,  went  home  after  supper,  without  drinking 
any  thing,  to  the  grievous  mortification  and  disappoint¬ 
ment  of  his  drunken  companions. 

xxxvi.  23. — The  king  cut  it  with  the  pen-knife, 
and  cast  it  into  the  fire  that  was  on  the  hearth, 
until  all  the  roll  was  consumed. 

A  few  years  ago,  a  party  of  men,  muffled  up  in  great- 

15 


170 


JEREMIAH  XXXVIII. 


coats,  entered  the  house  of  an  unoffending  Protestant 
in  Edgeworthstown  ;  and  after  having  placed  a  guard 
on  a  female  who  was  the  only  inmate  of  the  house  at 
the  time,  they  proceeded  to  search  the  rooms  till  they 
found  a  large  Bible,  which  they  carried  out,  and  tore 
into  a  thousand  fragments  in  an  adjoining  ditch.  A 
man  who  seemed  the  principal  of  the  party,  stood  at 
the  door,  and  gave  orders  to  the  others  not  to  meddle 
with  any  thing  but  the  thing  which  they  came  for. 
The  violence  of  their  animosity  was  exhibited  by 
trampling  the  leaves  of  the  Bible  in  the  mire. 

xxxvii.  20, — Let  my  supplication,  I  pray  thee, 
be  accepted  before  thee ;  that  thou  cause  me  not 
to  return  to  the  house  of  Jonathan  the  scribe,  lest 
I  die  there. 

Sir  John  Chardin,  when  mentioning  the  power  that 
jailors,  in  Eastern  countries,  have  over  the  prisoners 
committed  to  their  charge,  relates  the  story  of  an  emi¬ 
nent  Armenian  merchant.  He  was  “treated  with  the 
greatest  caresses  upon  the  jailor’s  receiving  a  consid¬ 
erable  present  from  him  at  first,  and  fleecing  him  after 
from  time  to  time ;  then  when  the  party  who  sued  the 
Armenian,  presented  something  considerable,  first  to 
the  judge,  and  afterwards  to  the  jailor,  the  prisoner 
first  felt  his  privileges  retrenched,  was  then  closely 
confined,  and  was  then  treated  with  such  inhumanity 
as  not  to  be  permitted  to  drink  above  once  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  this  in  the  hottest  time  of  summer,  nor 
was  any  body  suffered  to  come  near  him  but  the  ser¬ 
vants  of  the  prison,  and  at  length  he  was  thrown  into  a 
dungeon,  where  he  was,  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  brought 
to  the  point  to  which  all  this  severe  usage  was  intended 
to  force  him.” 

xxxviii.  6. — They  took  Jeremiah,  and  cast  him 
into  the  dungeon. 

One  of  the  witnesses  of  the  truth,  when  imprisoned 
for  conscience’  sake  in  Queen  Mary’s  persecution  of  the 


JEREMIAH  XLI. 


171 


Church,  is  said  to  have  thus  written  to  a  friend ; — “  A 
prisoner  for  Christ!  What  is  this  for  a  poor  worm! 
Such  honour  have  not  all  his  saints.  Both  the  degrees 
which  I  took  in  the  University,  have  not  set  me  so  high 
as  the  honour  of  becoming  a  prisoner  of  the  Lord.” 

xxxix.  17. — I  will  deliver  thee  in  that  day,  saith 
the  Lord ;  and  thou  shalt  not  be  given  into  the 
hand  of  the  men  of  whom  thou  art  afraid. 

Augustine,  going  on  one  occasion  to  preach  at  a  dis¬ 
tant  town,  took  with  him  a  guide  to  direct  him  in  the 
way.  The  man,  by  some  unaccountable  means,  mis¬ 
took  the  usual  road,  and  fell  into  a  bye-path.  It  after¬ 
wards  proved,  that  by  this  means  his  life  had  been 
saved,  as  some  of  the  Donatist^,  who  were  his  enemies, 
had  way-laid  him,  with  the  design  of  killing  him. 

xl.  14. — Dost  thou  certainly  know  that  Baalis, 
the  king  of  the  Ammonites,  hath  sent  Ishmael — 
to  slay  thee  1  But  Gedaliah — believed  them  not. 

The  Regent  Murray,  who  was  assassinated  by  Ham¬ 
ilton  of  Bothwellhaugh,  in  1570,  had  got  information, 
we  are  told,  the  same  day  on  which  the  murder  was 
committed,  respecting  the  assassin,  and  the  place  where 
he  was  concealed.  He  accordingly  resolved  to  proceed 
to  Edinburgh  on  the  road  which  skirts  the  outside  of 
the  town  of  Linlithgow;  but  perceiving  the  gate  through 
which  he  intended  to  pass,  blockaded  by  a  crowd,  he 
turned  the  other  way,  through  the  principal  street, 
where  the  assassin,  with  a  musket,  took  his  fatal  aim 
from  a  window.  The  Good  Regent  died  in  the  evening 
of  the  same  day,  while  the  murderer,  having  a  horse  in 
readiness,  effected  his  escape. 

xli.  8. — Ten  men  were  found  among  them  that 
said  unto  Ishmael,  Slay  us  not ;  for  we  have  trea¬ 
sures  in  the  field,  of  wheat,  and  of  barley,  and  of 
oil,  and  of  honey. 


172 


JEREMIAH  XLIII. 


Dr.  Shaw  informs  us,  that  in  Barbary,  when  the  grain 
is  winnowed,  they  lodge  it  in  mattamores,  or  subterra¬ 
neous  repositories ;  two  or  three  hundred  of  which  are 
sometimes  together,  the  smallest  holding  four  hundred 
bushels.  These  are  very  common  in  other  parts  of  the 
East,  and  are  in  particular  mentioned  by  Dr.  Russell, 
as  being  in  great  numbers  near  Aleppo,  about  the  vil¬ 
lages.  A  method,  similar  to  this,  is  used  in  the  Holy 
Land.  Le  Bruyn  speaks  of  deep  pits  at  Rama,  which 
he  was  told  were  designed  for  corn;  and  Rauwolf  men¬ 
tions  three  very  large  vaults  at  Joppa,  which  were  used 
for  the  purpose  of  laying  up  grain  when  he  visited  that 
place.  The  treasures  of  wheat,  &c.,  might  be  laid  up 
by  these  ten  men  in  the  same  kind  of  repositories. 

xlii.  20. — Ye  dissembled  in  your  hearts,  when 
ye  sent  me  unto  the  Lord  your  God,  saying,  Pray 
for  us  unto  the  Lord  our  God  ;  and  according  unto 
all  that  the  Lord  our  God  shall  say,  so  declare 
unto  us,  and  we  will  do  it. 

A  woman  once  came  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kilpin  of  Exeter, 
with  a  long  preface  on  the  duty  and  privilege  of  having 
the  opinion  of  a  minister  on  the  important  subject  of 
marriage.  She  told  her  tale,  and  sought  advice.  Mr. 
Kilpin  guessed  how  matters  stood,  and  unexpectedly 
inquired  if  the  day  for  her  marriage  was  not  fixed  for 
Tuesday  1  “  0 !  no,  sir,”  she  hastily  replied,  “  not  until 

Thursday.”  This  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  pointing 
out  the  sin  of  persons  treating  the  great  and  blessed 
God  in  somewhat  the  same  manner,  seeking  direction 
on  a  subject,  clearly  stated  in  his  word,  with  a  determi¬ 
nation  to  act  as  their  own  feelings  and  desires  dictated, 
let  the  voice  of  God,  in  his  word  or  providence  be  what 
it  might. 

xliii.  10. — Nebuchadnezzar  shall  spread  his 
royal  pavilion  over  them. 

“  While  we  were  employed  on  the  theatre  of  Miletus,” 
says  Dr.  Chandler  in  his  travels,  “the  Aga  of  Suki, 


JEREMIAH  XLV. 


173 


son-in-law  to  Elez-Oglu,  (a  Turkish  officer  of  high 
rank,)  crossed  the  plain  towards  us,  attended  by  a  con¬ 
siderable  train  of  domestics  and  officers,  their  vests  and 
turbans  of  various  and  lively  colours,  mounted  on  long¬ 
tailed  horses,  with  showy  trappings,  and  glittering  fur¬ 
niture.  He  returned,  after  hawking,  to  Miletus ;  and 
we  went  to  visit  him,  with  a  present  of  coffee  and  su¬ 
gar  ;  but  were  told  that  two  favourite  birds  had  flown 
away,  and  that  he  was  vexed  and  tired.  A  couch  was 
prepared  for  him  beneath  a  shed,  made  against  a  cot¬ 
tage,  and  covered  with  green  boughs  to  keep  off  the 
sun.  He  entered,  as  we  were  standing  by,  and  fell 
down  on  it  to  sleep,  without  taking  any  notice  of  us.” 

xliv.  18. — Since  we  left  off  to  burn  incense  to 
the  queen  of  heaven,  and  to  pour  out  drink  offerings 
unto  her,  we  have  wanted  all  things,  and  have 
been  consumed  by  the  sword  and  by  the  famine. 

A  Hindoo  who  had  renounced  idolatry,  was  soon 
after  suddenly  afflicted,  upon  which  many  of  his  hea¬ 
then  acquaintance  came  to  see  him,  and  said,  “This 
sickness,  without  doubt,  is  sent  to  punish  you,  because 
you  have  forsaken  Swamy,  (the  idol,)  and  have  destroyed 
your  pagoda;  we  therefore  advise  you  to  renounce 
Christianity,  and  again  to  worship  Swamy,  and  you  will 
soon  recover.”  He  said  to  them,  “The  great  God 
whom  I  now  worship,  made  all  things ;  therefore,  He 
alone  is  able  to  restore  me  to  health.  I  do  not  fear  the 
devil’s  anger,  for  without  divine  permission  he  cannot 
accomplish  any  thing;  and  if  my  present  sickness 
should  be  the  means  of  my  death,  I  will  die  trusting  in 
Christ.”  After  which  he  remonstrated  with  them  on 
the  folly  and  sin  of  worshipping  idols,  and  they  de¬ 
parted.  He  recovered,  and  is  giving  evidence  of  being 
a  sincere  follower  of  Christ. 

• 

xlv.  5. — Seekest  thou  great  things  for  thyself? 
seek  them  not. 

Sir  Henry  Wotton,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 

15  * 


174 


JEREMIAH  XLVI 


who  had  great  honours  conferred  on  him,  on  account 
of  his  near  relation  to  the  Queen’s  great  favourite, 
Robert  Earl  of  Essex,  was  very  intimate  with  the  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  and  with  James,  then  King  of  Scotland, 
(and  afterwards  of  England,)  and  had  been  sent  on 
several  embassies  to  Holland,  Germany,  and  Venice: 
after  all,  he  desired  to  retire  with  this  motto,  “That  he 
had  learned  at  length,  that  the  soul  grew  wiser  by  re¬ 
tirement;”  and  consequently,  that  a  man  was  more 
happy  in  a  private  situation,  than  it  was  possible  for 
him  to  be  with  those  worldly  honours  which  were  ac¬ 
companied  with  so  many  troubles.  In  short,  the  utmost 
of  his  aim  in  this  life,  for  the  future,  was  to  be  Provost 
of  Eton,  that  there  he  might  enjoy  his  beloved  study 
and  devotion.  He  was  afterwards  heard  to  say,  that 
the  day  on  which  he  put  on  his  surplice,  was  the  hap¬ 
piest  day  of  his  whole  life;  it  being  the  utmost  happi¬ 
ness  a  man  can  attain  here,  to  be  at  leisure  to  be  and  to 
do  good.  This  great  man  never  reflected  on  his  former 
years,  but  he  would  weep,  and  say,  “  How  much  time 
have  I  to  repent  of!  and  how  little  to  do  it  in !” 

xlvi.  18. — Tabor  is  among  the  mountains. 

“The  view  from  Mount  Tabor,”  says  Dr.  Russell,  “is 
extolled  by  every  traveller.  Maundrell  remarks,  ‘it  is 
impossible  for  man’s  eyes  to  behold  a  higher  gratifica¬ 
tion  of  this  nature.’  On  the  north-west  you  discern  in 
the  distance  the  noble  expanse  of  the  Mediterranean, 
while  all  around  you  see  the  spacious  and  beautiful 
plains  of  Esdraelon  and  Galilee.  Turning  a  little 
southward,  you  have  in  view  the  high  mountains  of 
Gilboa,  so  fatal  to  Saul  and  his  sons.  Due  east,  you 
discover  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  distant  about  one  day’s 
journey.  A  few  points  to  the  north  appears  the  Mount 
of  Beatitudes,  the  place  where  Christ  delivered  his  ser¬ 
mon  to  his  disciples  and  the  multitude.  Not  far  from 
this  little  hill  is  the  city  of  Saphet,  or  Szaffad,  standing 
upon  elevated  and  very  conspicuous  ground.  Still* 
farther,  in  the  same  direction,  is  seen  a  lofty  peak 
covered  with  snow,  a  part  of  the  chain  of  Anti-Libanus. 
To  the  south-west  is  Carmel,  and  in  the  south  the  hills 
of  Samaria.” 


JEREMIAH  XLIX. 


175 


xlvii.  5. — How  long  wilt  thou  cut  thyself? 

“We  often  read,”  says  Harmer,  “of  people  cutting 
themselves,  in  Holy  Writ,  when  in  great  anguish;  but 
we  are  not  commonly  told  what  part  they  wounded. 
The  modern  Arabs,  it  seems,  gash  their  arms,  which 
with  them  are  often  bare.  It  appears  from  a  passage 
of  Jeremiah,  the  ancients  wounded  themselves  in  the 
same  part.  Chap,  xlviii.  37,  ‘  Every  head  shall  be  bald, 
and  every  beard  clipped :  upon  all  the  hands  shall  be 
cuttings,  and  upon  the  loins  sackcloth.’  ” 

xlviii.  38. — I  have  broken  Moab  like  a  vessel 
wherein  is  no  pleasure,  saitli  the  Lord. 

The  Moabites  had,  in  succession,  the  monarchs  of 
Israel,  Babylon,  Persia,  Greece,  Syria,  and  Egypt,  and 
the  Romans,  all  as  their  enemies,  who  brought  them  to 
destruction.  They  now  no  longer  exist;  their  country 
is  a  heap  of  wild  ruins,  showing  enough  of  their  an¬ 
cient  grandeur  to  remind  us  what  they  once  were ;  and 
the  rude  tribes  of  Bedouin  Arabs  now  dwell  in  it, 
living  in  tents. 

xlix.  11. — Leave  thy  fatherless  children,  I  will 
preserve  them  alive ;  and  let  thy  widows  trust 
in  me. 

“A  friend  of  mine,”  says  Mr.  Newton,  “in  the  west 
of  England  (a  faithful  laborious  minister,  but  who,  I 
believe,  never  was  master  of  five  pounds  at  one  time) 
was  dying.  His  friends  advised  him  to  make  his  will ; 
he  replied,  “I  have  nothing  to  leave  but  my  wife  and 
children,  and  I  leave  them  to  the  care  of  my  gracious 
God.”  Soon  after  this  he  died  happily.  But  there  ap¬ 
peared  no  prospect  of  support  for  his  family  at  this  time. 
The  Lord,  however,  stirred  up  a  man  who  had  always 
despised  his  preaching,  to  feel  for  the  deceased  minis¬ 
ter’s  poor  destitute  family ;  and  he  so  exerted  himself, 
that  he  was  the  means  of  £1600  being  raised  by  sub¬ 
scriptions  for  them ;  and  the  clergy  of  Exeter,  who  had 
never  countenanced  his  preachings,  gave  her  a  house 


170 


JEREMIAH  LI. 


and  garden  during  her  life,  so  that  she  lived  in  far 
greater  plenty  than  in  her  husband’s  life-time.” 

1.  38. — A  drought  is  upon  her  waters  ;  and  they 
shall  be  dried  up :  for  it  is  the  land  of  graven  im¬ 
ages,  and  they  are  mad  upon  their  idols. 

Cyrus  having  subdued  the  lesser  Asia,  as  likewise 
Syria  and  Arabia,  entered  Assyria,  and  bent  his  march 
towards  Babylon.  The  siege  of  this  important  place 
was  no  easy  enterprise.  The  walls  were  of  a  prodi¬ 
gious  height,  the  number  of  men  to  defend  them  very 
great,  and  the  city  stored  with  all  sorts  of  provisions 
for  twenty  years.  However,  these  difficulties  did  not 
discourage  Cyrus  from  prosecuting  his  design;  who, 
after  spending  two  entire  years  before  the  place,  became 
master  of  it  by  stratagem.  Upon  a  festival  night, 
which  the  Babylonians  were  accustomed  to  spend  in 
drinking  and  debauchery,  he  ordered  the  bank  of  the 
canal,  above  the  city,  leading  to  the  great  lake,  that  had 
been  lately  dug  by  Nitocris,  to  be  broken  down ;  and 
having  thus  diverted  the  course  of  the  river,  by  turning 
the  whole  current  into  the  lake,  he  caused  his  troops  to 
march  in  by  the  bed  of  the  river,  who  now  penetrated 
into  the  heart  of  the  city  without  opposition,  surprised 
the  guards  of  the  palace,  and  cut  them  to  pieces.  The 
taking  of  Babylon  put  an  end  to  the  Babylonian  em¬ 
pire,  and  fulfilled  the  predictions  which  the  prophets 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Daniel,  had  uttered  against  that 
proud  metropolis. 

li.  17. — Every  founder  is  confounded  by  the 
graven  image :  for  his  molten  image  is  falsehood, 
and  there  is  no  breath  in  them. 

“In  the  monastery  at  Isenach,”  says  Luther,  “stands 
an  image  which  I  have  seen.  When  a  wealthy  person 
came  thither  to  pray  to  it,  (it  was  Mary  with  her  child,) 
the  child  turned  away  his  face  from  the  sinner  to  the 
mother;  but  if  the  sinner  gave  liberally  to  that  monas¬ 
tery,  then  the  child  turned  to  him  again ;  and  if  he  pro- 


LAMENTATIONS  I. 


177 


mised  to  give  more,  then  the  child  showed  itself  very 
friendly  and  loving,  and  stretched  out  its  arms  over  him 
in  the  form  of  a  cross.  But  this  picture  and  image  was 
made  hollow  within,  and  prepared  with  locks,  lines,  and 
screws ;  and  behind  it  stood  a  knave  to  move  them, — 
and  so  were  the  people  mocked  and  deceived,  who  took 
it  to  be  a  miracle  wrought  by  Divine  Providence !” 

lii.  16. — Nebuzar-adan,  the  captain  of  the 
guard,  left  certain  of  the  poor  of  the  land  for  vine¬ 
dressers,  and  for  husbandmen. 

The  Rev.  John  Frederic  Oberlin  was  distinguished 
by  his  charity  and  benevolence,  and  though  scarcely  a 
mendicant  was  ever  seen  in  the  valley  of  the  Ban  de 
la  Roche,  where  he  resided,  sometimes  a  pauper  from 
the  neighbouring  communes,  attracted  by  the  well- 
known  disposition  of  the  pastor  and  his  people,  wan¬ 
dered  thither  to  implore  that  assistance  which,  if  deserv¬ 
ing,  he  never  failed  to  receive.  “Why  do  you  not 
work?”  was  Oberlin’s  usual  interrogation.  “Because 
no  one  will  employ  me,”  was  the  general  reply.  “Well, 
then,  I  will  employ  you.  There — carry  these  planks — 
break  those  stones — fill  that  bucket  with  water,  and  I 
will  repay  you  for  your  trouble.”  Such  was  his  usual 
mode  of  proceeding ;  and  idle  beggars  were  taught  to 
come  there  no  more  ” 


LAMENTATIONS. 

Chap.  i.  7. — The  adversaries  did  mock  at  her 
Sabbaths. 

The  late  Mr.  Meikle,  surgeon  in  Carnwath,  being  on 
some  business  at  Edinburgh,  which  detained  him  to 
the  end  of  the  week,  and  not  finding  himself  so  com¬ 
fortably  lodged  as  he  could  have  desired,  rose  early 
on  Sabbath  morning,  and  went  out  to  the  Meadows, 


178 


LAMENTATIONS  III. 


that  he  might  get  an  opportunity  for  devotional  exer¬ 
cises.  As  he  was  sitting  in  the  arbour,  a  young  gen¬ 
tleman  happened  to  come  in,  and  by  his  singing  and 
conversation,  discovered  a  contempt  for  the  Sabbath. 
Mr.  Meikle  said  to  him,  “  My  good  sir,  I  am  just  think¬ 
ing  on  the  fourth  commandment,  can  you  help  me  out 
with  it?” — “  Indeed,  sir,”  said  the  gentleman,  “  I  can¬ 
not.” — “Oh,”  said  Mr.  M.,  “I  have  it.  ‘Remember  the 
Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy.’  ”  The  young  gentleman 
felt  the  reproof,  and  retired,  leaving  Mr.  Meikle  to  pro¬ 
ceed  with  his  devotions. 

ii.  16. — All  thine  enemies  have  opened  their 
mouth  against  thee. 

One  morning,  as  a  minister,  in  one  of  the  north-east¬ 
erly  cantons  of  France,  was  employed  in  his  study,  he 
heard  a  great  noise  in  the  village  in  which  he  resided. 
Rushing  out,  he  perceived  a  foreigner,  whom  almost 
the  whole  population  were  loading  with  abusive  and 
threatening  language.  “A  Jew!  a  Jew!”  resounded 
on  all  sides,  as  the  minister  forced  his  way  through 
the  crowd ;  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  could  ob¬ 
tain  silence.  As  soon,  however,  as  he  could  make 
himself  heard,  he  rebuked  them  with  great  warmth  for 
having  proved  themselves  unworthy  the  name  of  Chris¬ 
tians,  by  treating  the  unfortunate  stranger  in  so  cruel 
a  manner.  He  added,  that  if  this  poor  man  wanted  the 
name  of  a  Christian,  they  wanted  the  spirit  of  Chris¬ 
tians. 

iii.  39. — Wherefore  doth  a  living  man  complain, 
a  man  for  the  punishment  of  his  sins  ? 

The  Duke  of  Conde,  when  in  poverty  and  retirement, 
was  one  day  observed  and  pitied  by  a  lord  of  Italy,  who, 
out  of  tenderness,  wished  him  to  take  better  care  of 
himself.  The  good  duke  answered,  “  sir,  be  not  troubled ; 
and  think  not  that  I  am  ill  provided  of  conveniences ; 
for  I  send  a  messenger  before  me,  who  makes  ready 
my  lodgings,  and  takes  care  that  I  be  royally  entertain¬ 
ed.”  The  noble  lord  asked  him  who  was  his  messen- 


LAMENTATIONS  V. 


179 


gerl  He  replied,  “The  knowledge  of  myself;  and  the 
thoughts  of  what  I  deserve  for  my  sins,  which  is  eter¬ 
nal  torments :  and  when,  with  this  knowledge,  I  arrive 
at  my  lodging,  how  unprovided  soever  I  find  it,  me- 
thinks  it  is  better  than  I  deserve :  and  as  the  sense  of 
sin,  which  merits  hell,  sweetens  present  difficulties,  so 
do  the  hopes  of  the  heavenly  kingdom.” 

iv.  3. — Even  the  sea-monsters  draw  out  the 
breast,  they  give  suck  to  their  young  ones. 

The  natural  affection  of  animals  appears  in  the  fol¬ 
lowing  instance.  A  whale  and  her  young  one  had  got 
into  an  arm  of  the  sea,  where  the  tide  nearly  left  them. 
The  people  on  the  shore  beheld  their  situation,  and 
came  down  upon  them  in  boats,  attacking  them  with 
such  weapons  as  could  be  hastily  collected.  The  ani¬ 
mals  were  soon  severely  wounded,  and  the  sea  coloured 
with  their  blood.  After  several  attempts  to  escape,  the 
old  one  forced  her  way  over  the  shallow  into  deep 
water.  But  though  in  safety  herself,  she  could  not 
bear  the  danger  that  threatened  her  young  one ;  she 
therefore  rushed  once  more  to  the  place  where  it  was 
confined,  and  appeared  resolved,  if  she  could  not  pro¬ 
tect,  to  share  its  danger.  As  the  tide  was  then  running 
in,  both  of  the  creatures  made  their  escape,  though  not 
without  receiving  a  great  number  of  wounds  in  every 
part. 


v.  8. — Servants  have  ruled  over  us ;  there  is 
none  that  doth  deliver  us  out  of  their  hand. 

“In  visiting  one  of  the  gardens,  for  which  Rosetta, 
in  Egypt,  is  famous,”  says  Jowett,  in  his  Christian  Re¬ 
searches,  “  we  had  a  singular  specimen  of  the  effect  of 
oppression.  Seeing  fine  fruit  on  every  side,  but  find¬ 
ing  the  oranges  to  be  of  the  sour  kind,  we  asked  the 
gardener  for  some  that  were  sweet.  He  at  first  denied 
that  he  had  any.  Our  guide  told  us  to  show  him  money. 
At  the  sight  of  this,  he  produced  some  delicious  oranges. 
As  we  peeled  them,  and  ate,  he  gathered  up  the  peel, 


180 


EZEKIEL  II. 


and  buried  it  in  the  earth,  in  order  that  soldiers  coming 
into  his  garden,  might  not  see  the  trace  of  sweet 
oranges,  and  compel  him  to  give  them  some.” 


— • — 

EZEKIEL. 

Chap.  i.  10. — They  four  had  the  face  of  a  man, 
and  the  face  of  a  lion  on  the  right  side ;  and  they 
four  had  the  face  of  an  ox  on  the  left  side ;  they 
four  also  had  the  face  of  an  eagle. 

The  Rev.  William  Wilson  of  Perth,  and  some  of  his 
friends,  were,  on  one  occasion,  enjoying  themselves 
with  some  innocent  pleasantry,  by  proposing  severally 
to  what  they  might  compare  the  Four  Brethren,  with 
whom  the  Secession  in  Scotland  originated.  Different 
comparisons  were  suggested.  When  it  came  to  Mr. 
Wilson’s  turn,  he  did  not  see  any  thing  they  could  be 
better  compared  to  than  the  four  living  creatures  in 
Ezekiel’s  vision.  “  Our  brother,  Mr  Erskine,”  said  he, 
“  has  the  face  of  a  man.  Our  friend  Mr.  Moncrieff,  has 
the  face  of  a  lion.  Our  neighbour  Mr.  Fisher,  has  the 
face  of  an  eagle.  And  as  for  myself,  I  think  you  will 
all  own  that  I  may  claim  to  be  the  ox;  for,  as  you 
know,  the  laborious  part  of  the  business  falls  to  my 
share.” 

ii.  7. — Thou  shalt  speak  my  words  unto  them, 
whether  they  will  hear,  or  whether  they  will  for¬ 
bear. 

The  late  Dr.  Ritchie,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  was  one  day  preaching  in 
Tarbolton  church,  where  he  was  at  that  time  minister, 
against  profane  swearing  in  common  conversation, 
while  one  of  his  principal  heritors  who  was  addicted  to 
that  sin  was  present.  This  gentleman  thought  the  ser¬ 
mon  was  designedly  addressed  to  him,  and  that  the 


EZEKIEL  III. 


181 


eyes  of  the  whole  congregation  were  fixed  upon  him. 
Though  he  felt  indignant,  he  kept  his  place  till  the  ser¬ 
vice  was  concluded,  and  then  waited  on  the  preacher, 
and  asked  him  to  dine  with  him,  as  he  was  quite  alone. 
The  invitation  being  accepted,  the  gentleman  immedi¬ 
ately  after  dinner  thus  addressed  the  minister — “  Sir, 
you  have  insulted  me  to-day  in  the  church.  I  have 
been  three  times  in  church  lately,  and  on  every  one  of 
them  you  have  been  holding  me  up  to  the  derision  of 
the  audience ;  so  I  tell  you,  sir,  I  shall  never  more  en¬ 
ter  the  church  of  Tarbolton  again,  unless  you  give  me 
your  solemn  promise,  that  you  will  abstain  from  such 
topics  in  future,  as  I  am  resolved,  I  shall  no  more  fur¬ 
nish  you  with  the  theme  of  your  discourse.”  Mr.  Ritchie 
heard  this  speech  to  a  conclusion  with  calmness,  and 
then  looking  him  steadfastly  in  the  face,  thus  replied, 
“  Very  well,  sir,  if  you  took  to  yourself  what  I  said  to¬ 
day  against  swearing,  does  not  your  conscience  bear 
witness  to  its  truth?  You  say  you  will  not  enter  the 
church  till  I  cease  to  reprove  your  sins ;  if  such  is  your 
determination,  it  is  impossible  you  can  enter  it  again ; 
for,  which  of  the  commandments  have  you  not  broken?” 
On  observing  his  firmness,  and  feeling  that  he  was 
wrong  in  attempting  to  make  the  minister  of  the  parish 
compromise  his  duty,  the  gentleman  held  out  his  hand 
to  Mr.  Ritchie  ;  a  mutual  explanation  took  place;  and 
while  the  minister  would  abate  none  of  his  faithfulness, 
the  heritor  endeavoured  to  overcome  his  evil  habits. 

iii.  26. — I  will  make  thy  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  thy  mouth,  that  thou  shalt  be  dumb,  and 
shalt  not  be  to  them  a  reprover. 

The  Rev.  William  Tennant,  formerly  a  very  eminent 
minister  of  the  gospel  in  New  England,  once  took  much 
pains  to  prepare  a  sermon  to  convince  a  celebrated  in¬ 
fidel.  But,  in  attempting  to  deliver  this  laboured  dis¬ 
course,  Mr.  T.  was  so  confused,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
stop,  and  close  the  service  by  prayer.  This  unexpected 
failure  in  one  who  had  so  often  astonished  the  unbe¬ 
liever  with  the  force  of  his  eloquence,  led  the  infidel  to 

16 


182 


EZEKIEL  VI. 


reflect  that  Mr.  T.  had  been  at  other  times  aided  by  a 
divine  power.  This  reflection  proved  the  means  of  his 
conversion.  Thus  God  accomplished  by  silence,  what 
his  servant  meant  to  eflect  by  persuasive  preaching. 
Mr.  Tennant  used  afterwards  to  say,  “  His  dumb  sermon 
was  the  most  profitable  sermon  that  he  had  ever  de¬ 
livered.” 

iv.  6. — Thou  shalt  bear  the  iniquity  of  the 
house  of  Judah  forty  days :  I  have  appointed  thee 
each  day  for  a  year. 

Usher,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  was  very 
zealous  against  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  averse  to 
tolerating  them.  He  once  preached  before  the  officers 
of  the  Irish  government,  from  the  preceding  text.  In 
the  course  of  his  sermon,  he  made  an  application  of 
the  passage  which  was  remarkable.  “From  this  year 
(1601),”  said  he,  “I  reckon  forty  years;  and  then 
those  whom  you  now  embrace,  shall  be  your  ruin,  and 
you  shall  bear  their  iniquity.”  The  apparent  accom¬ 
plishment  of  this  prediction  in  the  Irish  rebellion  of 
1641,  was  a  singular  occurrence;  and,  in  the  opinion 
of  many,  perhaps  in  his  own,  was  regarded  as  an  indi¬ 
cation  of  his  prophetic  spirit. 

v.  1. — Take  thee  a  barber’s  razor,  and  c$use 
it  to  pass  upon  thine  head,  and  upon  thy  beard. 

The  Mahometans  have  a  very  great  respect  for  their 
beards,  and  think  it  criminal  to  shave.  “  Conversing 
one  day  with  a  Turk,”  says  Dr.  Clarke,  “  who  was 
playing  with  his  beard,  I  asked  him,  ‘  Why  do  you  not 
cut  off  your  beard  as  we  Europeans  do  V  To  which 
he  replied,  with  great  emotion,  ‘  Cut  offf  my  beard ! — 
Why  should  1 1— God  forbid !’  ” 

vi.  9. — They  shall  loathe  themselves  for  the 
evils  they  have  committed. 

The  Rev.  Ralph  Erskine,  when  rebuking  a  person 


EZEKIEL  IX. 


183 


before  the  congregation,  for  some  scandalous  offence, 
said, — “  Think  upon  the  case  you  are  in,  and  meditate 
on  the  misery  you  have  exposed  yourself  unto ;  for  God 
will  deal  with  you  either  in  mercy  or  in  wrath.  If  he 
deal  with  you  in  mercy,  then  you  will  surely  find  more 
bitterness  in  sin  than  ever  you  found  pleasure  in  it; 
and  if  he  deal  with  you  in  wrath,  you  will  find  sin,  like 
a  mountain  of  lead,  weighing  you  down  to  the  bottom 
of  hell  for  ever.  The  Lord  make  you  wise  to  salvation, 
that  you  may  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.” 

vii.  19. — Their  silver  and  their  gold  shall  not 
be  able  to  deliver  them  in  the  day  of  the  wrath 
of  the  Lord. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  Burroughs,  a  pious  minister,  mentions 
the  case  of  a  rich  man,  who,  when  he  lay  on  his  sick¬ 
bed,  called  for  his  bags  of  money;  and  having  laid  a 
bag  of  gold  to  his  heart,  after  a  little,  he  bade  them  take 
it  away,  saying,  “  It  will  not  do  !  it  will  not  do  !” 

viii.  14. — He  brought  me  to  the  door  of  the 
Lord’s  house  which  was  toward  the  north ;  and, 
behold,  there  sat  women  weeping  for  Tammuz. 

The  ancient  Greeks,  we  are  informed,  used  to  place 
their  dead  near  the  doors  of  their  houses,  and  to  attend 
them  with  mourning.  The  same  custom  still  continues 
among  the  modern  Greeks,  and  might,  perhaps,  be  ob¬ 
served  by  the  ancient  Jews.  Dr.  Richard  Chandler, 
when  travelling  in  Greece,  observed,  at  Megara,  a  wo¬ 
man  sitting,  with  the  door  of  her  cottage  open,  lament¬ 
ing  her  dead  husband  aloud ;  and  when  at  Zante,  he 
saw  a  woman  in  a  house  with  the  door  open,  bewailing 
her  little  son,  whose  body  lay  beside  her  dressed,  the 
hair  powdered,  the  face  painted,  and  bedecked  with 
leaf-gold.  ,, 

ix.  6. — Slay  utterly  old  and  young,  both  maids, 
and  little  children,  and  women  ;  but  come  not  near 
any  man  upon  whom  is  the  mark. 


184 


EZEKIEL  X. 


Beza,  a  little  before  his  death,  declared  to  his  Chris¬ 
tian  friends,  that  the  Lord  had  fulfilled  to  him  all  the 
promises  contained  in  the  ninety-first  psalm,  which  he 
heard  expounded,  when  a  young  man,  in  the  church. 
As  he  had  been  enabled  to  close  with  the  second  verse, 
in  taking  the  Lord  for  his  God,  and  got  a  sure  claim 
that  he  would  be  his  “refuge  and  fortress,”  so  he  had 
found  remarkably,  in  the  after  changes  of  his  life,  that 
the  Lord  had  “delivered  him  from  the  snare  of  the 
fowler,”  for  he  had  been  in  frequent  hazard  by  the  lying 
in  wait  of  many  to  ensnare  him ;  and  from  the  “  noi¬ 
some  pestilence,”  for  he  was  sometimes  in  great  hazard 
from  it,  in  those  places  where  he  was  called  to  reside. 
Amidst  the  civil  wars  in  France,  he  had  most  signal 
deliverances  from  many  imminent  dangers,  when  he 
was  called  to  be  present  sometimes  with  the  Protestant 
princes  upon  the  field,  where  “thousands  did  fall  about 
him.”  On  his  death-bed,  he  found  that  psalm  so  ob¬ 
servably  verified,  on  which  he  was  caused  to  hope,  that 
he  went  through  all  the  promises  in  it,  declaring  the 
comfortable  accomplishment  of  them,  how  he  had  found 
the  “  Lord  giving  his  angels  charge  over  him,  often  an¬ 
swering  him  when  he  called  on  him ;  how  he  had  been 
with  him  in  trouble,  had  delivered  him,  and  had  satis¬ 
fied  him  with  long  life.”  “  And  now,”  says  he,  “  I  have 
no  more  to  wait  for,  but  the  fulfilling  of  these  last 
words  of  the  psalm — ‘I  will  show  him  my  salvation,’ — 
which,  with  confidence,  I  wait  for.” 

x.  18. — The  glory  of  the  Lord  departed  from 
off  the  threshold  of  the  house,  and  stood  over  the 
cherubim. 

It  appears  from  the  Rev.  H.  Lindsay’s  interesting 
letter  to  the  Bible  Society  in  1816,  in  which  he  gives  an 
account  of  his  visit  to  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia, 
that  even  in  those  places,  where  the  light  of  the  gospel 
first  shone,  the  inhabitants  were  not  only  destitute  of 
the  Bible,  but  they  had  also  no  distinct  idea  of  the 
books  it  contained.  They  mentioned  them  indiscrimi¬ 
nately,  with  various  idle  legends  and  lives  of  saints. 
Leaving  Smyrna,  the  first  place  Mr.  Lindsay  visited 


EZEKIEL  XII. 


185 


was  Ephesus.  “I  found  there”  says  he,  “but  three 
Christians ;  two  brothers,  who  keep  a  shop,  and  a  gar¬ 
dener.  They  are  all  three  Greeks,  and  their  ignorance 
is  lamentable  indeed.  In  that  place  which  was  blessed 
so  long  with  an  apostle’s  labours,  and  those  of  his  zeal¬ 
ous  assistants,  are  Christians,  who  have  not  so  much 
as  heard  of  that  apostle,  or  seem  only  to  recognise  the 
name  of  Paul  as  one  in  the  calendar  of  their  saints.” 

xi.  19. — I  will  take  the  stony  heart  out  of  their 
flesh,  and  will  give  them  an  heart  of  flesh. 

The  holiest  and  best  men  have  been  usually  the  most 
ready  to  acknowledge  the  natural  depravity  of  their 
hearts,  and  the  greatness  of  their  obligations  to  the  free 
and  sovereign  grace  of  God,  in  preserving  or  delivering 
them  from  the  consequences  of  that  depravity. — During 
the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Ralph  Erskine  at  Dunfermline, 
a  man  was  executed  for  robbery,  whom  he  repeatedly 
visited  in  prison,  and  whom  he  attended  on  the  scaffold. 
Mr.  Erskine  addressed  both  the  spectators  and  the 
criminal;  and,  after  concluding  his  speech,  he  laid  his 
hands  on  his  breast,  uttering  these  words — “  But  for  re¬ 
straining  grace,  I  had  been  brought,  by  this  corrupt 
heart,  to  the  same  condition  with  this  unhappy  man.” 

xii.  2. — They  have  ears  to  hear,  and  hear  not. 

An  inn-keeper,  addicted  to  intemperance,  on  hearing 
of  the  particularly  pleasing  mode  of  singing  at  a 
church  some  miles  distant,  went  to  gratify  his  curiosity, 
but  with  a  resolution  not  to  hear  a  word  of  the  sermon. 
Having  with  difficulty  found  admission  into  a  narrow 
open  pew,  as  soon  as  the  hymn  before  sermon  was 
sung,  which  he  heard  with  great  attention,  he  secured 
both  his  ears  against  the  sermon  with  his  fore-fingers. 
— He  had  not  been  in  this  position  many  minutes,  be¬ 
fore  the  prayer  finished,  and  the  sermon  commenced 
with  an  awful  appeal  to  the  consciences  of  the  hearers, 
of  the  necessity  of  attending  to  the  things  which  made 
for  their  everlasting  peace;  and  the  minister  address¬ 
ing  them  solemnly,  “He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let 


186 


EZEKIEL  XIV. 


him  hear.”  Just  the  moment  before  these  words  were 
pronounced,  a  fly  had  fastened  on  the  face  of  the  inn¬ 
keeper,  and,  stinging  him  sharply,  he  drew  one  of  his 
fingers  from  his  ear,  and  struck  off  the  painful  visit¬ 
ant.  At  that  very  moment,  the  words,  “  He  that  hath 
ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear,”  pronounced  with  great  so¬ 
lemnity,  entered  the  ear  that  was  opened  as  a  clap  of 
thunder :  it  struck  him  with  irresistible  force :  he  kept 
his  hand  from  returning  to  his  ear,  and,  feeling  an  im¬ 
pression  he  had  never  known  before,  he  presently  with¬ 
drew  the  other  finger,  and  hearkened  with  deep  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  discourse  which  followed.  A  salutary 
change  was  produced  on  him.  He  abandoned  his  for¬ 
mer  wicked  practises,  became  truly  serious,  and  for 
many  years  went  all  weathers  six  miles  to  the  church, 
where  he  received  the  knowledge  of  divine  things. 
After  about  eighteen  years’  faithful  and  close  walk  with 
God,  he  died  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  that  glory  which 
he  now  enjoys. 

xiii.  3. — Wo  unto  the  foolish  prophets,  that 
follow  their  own  spirit,  and  have  seen  nothing. 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  Mr.  Hervey  says,  “  Warburton 
has  published  two  volumes  of  sermons,  in  which,  it 
seems,  he  has  decried  experimental  religion,  disregard¬ 
ed  the  peculiarities  of  the  gospel,  and  treated  the  ope¬ 
rations  of  the  Spirit  as  mere  enthusiasm.  If  this  be 
the  effect  of  his  great  learning,  then,  good  Lord,  deliver 
us  all,  say  I,  from  such  an  attainment !  If  you  either 
have  or  can  borrow  them,  just  let  me  peep  on  them. 
Don’t  buy  them  to  gratify  me ;  I  can  relish  nothing  but 
what  is  evangelical.” 

xiv.  10. — They  shall  bear  the  punishment  of 
their  iniquity. 

“I  have  read  of  King  Canute,”  says  an  excellent 
minister,  “  that  he  promised  to  make  him  the  highest 
man  in  England  who  should  kill  King  Edmund  his  ri¬ 
val;  which,  when  one  had  performed,  and  expected  his 
reward,  he  commanded  him  to  be  hung  on  the  highest 


EZEKIEL  XVI. 


187 


tower  in  London.  So  Satan  promises  great  things  to 
people  in  pursuit  of  their  lusts,  but  he  puts  them  off 
with  great  mischief.  The  promised  crown  turns  to  a 
halter;  the  promised  comfort,  to  a  torment;  the  pro¬ 
mised  honour,  into  shame ;  the  promised  consolation, 
into  desolation ;  and  the  promised  heaven  turns  into  a 
hell.”  ' 

xv.  7. — I  will  set  my  face  against  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  Jerusalem :  they  shall  go  out  from  one 
fire,  and  another  fire  shall  devour  them. 

“There  was,”  says  Josephus,  “one  Jesus,  son  of 
Ananias,  a  countryman  of  mean  birth,  four  years  be¬ 
fore  the  war  against  the  Jews,  at  a  time  when  all  was 
in  deep  peace  and  tranquillity,  who,  coming  up  to  the 
feast  of  tabernacles,  according  to  the  custom,  began  on 
a  sudden  to  cry  out,  and  say,  ‘A  voice  from  the  east,  a 
voice  from  the  west,  a  voice  from  the  four  winds,  a 
voice  against  Jerusalem  and  the  temple,  a  voice  against 
bridegrooms  and  brides,  a  voice  against  all  the  people.’ 
Thus  he  went  about  all  the  narrow  lanes,  crying  night 
and  day:  and  being  apprehended  and  scourged,  he  still 
continued  the  same  language  under  the  blows  without 
any  other  word.  And  they,  upon  this,  supposing  (as  it 
was)  that  it  was  some  divine  motion,  brought  him  to 
the  Roman  prefect:  and,  by  his  appointment,  being 
wounded  by  whips,  and  the  flesh  torn  to  the  bones,  he 
neither  entreated,  nor  shed  a  tear;  but  to  every  blow, 
in  a  most  lamentable,  mournful  note,  cried  out, ‘Wo, 
wo  to  Jerusalem.’  This  he  continued  to  do  till  the 
time  of  the  siege,  seven  years  together ;  and,  at  last,  to 
his  extraordinary  note  of  wo  to  the  city,  the  people,  the 
temple,  adding,  ‘Wo  also  to  me;’  a  stone  from  the 
battlements  fell  down  upon  him,  and  killed  him.” 

xvi.  44. — As  is  the  mother,  so  is  her  daughter. 

A  minister  in  the  country,  who  frequently  visited  a 
widow  lady  with  one  daughter,  always  heard  sad  com¬ 
plaints  from  her  mother,  that  her  daughter  was  fond  of 
public  amusements.  One  day  when  this  was  repeated, 


188 


EZEKIEL  XIX. 


the  daughter  said,  “Mother,  who  took  me  first  to  these 
places  ?”  Conscience  did  its  office :  the  mother  was 
silent,  and  no  more  was  said  on  the  subject. 

xvii.  3 — A  great  eagle  with  great  wings — came 
unto  Lebanon,  and  took  the  highest  branch  of  the 
cedar. 

“  It  is  not  to  he  expected,”  Harmer  observes,  “  that 
the  visionary  representations  made  to  the  prophets 
should  always  coincide  with  natural  history  ;  but  it 
seems  this  does,  (referring  to  the  preceding  passage.) 

‘  We  employed  the  rest  of  the  day,’  says  La  Roque, 
speaking  of  the  spot  where  the  cedars  of  Lebanon 
grow,  ‘In  attentively  surveying  the  beauties  of  this 
place,  and  of  its  neighbourhood,  in  measuring  some  of 
the  cedars,  and  in  cutting  off  many  of  their  branches, 
with  their  cones,  which  we  sent  to  Bsciarrai,  with  a 
number  of  large  eagles’  feathers,  which  were  found  in 
the  same  place.’  ” 

xviii.  10. — If  he  beget  a  son  that  is  a  robber,  a 
shedder  of  blood — 

A  boy  in  London,  of  thirteen  years  of  age,  having 
been  left  at  home  one  day  with  a  servant,  while  his 
parents  were  gone  out,  took  an  opportunity  to  rob  a 
drawer  of  a  considerable  quantity  of  silver.  His  fa¬ 
ther,  next  day,  detected  the  theft,  and  reproved  him  for 
such  shameful  conduct,  when  the  wretched  boy  obtain¬ 
ing  possession  of  a  loaded  pistol  belonging  to  his  fa¬ 
ther,  put  a  period  to  his  life  with  it;  in  consequence 
of  which,  his  body  was  ordered  to  be  buried  in  the  pub¬ 
lic  street.  He  was  of  a  very  morose  disposition,  and 
disobedient  to  his  parents.  ' 

xix.  8,  9. — The  nations  sat  against  him  on 
every  side  from  the  provinces,  and  spread  their  net 
over  him  :  he  was  taken  in  their  pit. — And  they 
put  him  in  ward  in  chains. 


EZEKIEL  XXI. 


189 


Bonaparte,  after  a  career  of  conquest  and  blood,  was 
completely  subdued  by  the  combined  powers  of  Russia, 
Prussia,  Austria,  and  Britain.  After  the  decisive  battle 
of  Waterloo,  he  retreated  with  precipitation  to  Paris; 
but  being  followed  by  the  allies,  he  quitted  that  capital, 
and  went  to  Rochefort,  where  vessels  were  prepared  to 
carry  him  and  his  attendants  to  America.  The  British 
government,  however,  informed  of  his  plan,  blockaded 
this  part  of  the  French  coast  so  effectually,  that  he 
found  himself  compelled  to  surrender  to  Captain  Mait¬ 
land  of  the  Bellerophon,  the  commander  of  the  block¬ 
ading  squadron.  In  this  ship  he  was  brought  to  the 
coast  of  England,  but  not  suffered  to  land;  and  about 
the  middle  of  August  1815,  he  sailed  with  part  of  his 
suite,  in  the  Northumberland,  to  the  Island  of  St. 
Helena,  where  he  was  kept  a  prisoner  at  large  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  5th  May  1821, 

xx.  21. — They  polluted  my  Sabbaths  :  then  I 
said,  I  would  pour  out  my  fury  upon  them. 

Some  time  ago,  W.  P - ,  a  lad  who  had  formerly 

attended  a  Sabbath  school,  engaged  to  go  with  some 
companions  a-fishing  on  a  Lord’s  day.  Though  it 
rained  very  hard,  and  he  was  desired  not  to  go,  yet, 
bent  on  pursuing  his  own  course,  he  went  notwith¬ 
standing.  They  came  to  the  river,  where  they  agreed 
to  stop,  and  they  began  their  unhallowed  sport,  and 
continued  for  some  time,  not  thinking  of  any  danger, 

when  W.  P - ,  wishing  to  obtain  a  better  place,  tried 

to  jump  from  the  spot  where  he  stood  to  another;  but, 
in  doing  so,  his  foot  slipped,  he  struck  his  head  against 
a  barge,  and  fell  into  the  river;  and,  after  being  sought 
for  some  time,  was  found,  and  taken  out  a  lifeless 
corpse.  Let  Sabbath-breakers  take  warning  by  this 
young  man’s  unhappy  end.  The  way  of  transgressors 
is  hard. 

xxi.  21. — The  king  of  Babylon  stood  at  the 
parting  of  the  way,  at  the  head  of  the  two  ways, 
to  use  divination  :  he  made  his  arrows  bright. 


190 


EZEKIEL  XXIII. 


Della  Vella  relates  the  following  method  of  divina¬ 
tion  by  arrows.  “He  saw  at  Aleppo  a  Mahometan, 
who  caused  two  persons  to  sit  upon  the  ground,  one 
opposite  to  the  other,  and  gave  them  four  arrows  into 
their  hands,  which  both  of  them  held  with  their  points 
downwards,  and,  as  it  were,  in  two  right  lines,  united 
one  to  the  other.  Then  a  question  being  put  to  him 
about  any  business,  he  fell  to  murmur  his  enchant¬ 
ments,  and  thereby  caused  the  said  four  arrows,  of 
their  own  accord,  to  unite  their  points  together  in  the 
midst,  (though  he  that  held  them  stirred  not  his  hand,) 
and  according  to  the  future  event  of  the  matter,  those 
of  the  right  side  were  placed  over  those  of  the  left,  or 
on  the  contrary.”  This  practice  Della  Vella  refers  to 
diabolical  influence. 

xxii.  8. — Thou  hast  despised  mine  holy  things, 
and  hast  profaned  my  Sabbaths. 

The  following  fact,  communicated  by  a  respectable 
merchant  of  New  York,  is  well  worthy  of  notice: — “I 
have  particularly  observed,”  says  the  gentleman,  “that 
those  merchants  in  New  York,  who  have  kept  their 
counting-rooms  open  on  the  Sabbath-day,  during  my 
residence  there,  (twenty-five  years,)  have  failed  with¬ 
out  exception.” 


xxiii.  38. — They  have  defiled  my  sanctuary  in 

the  same  day,  and  have  profaned  my  Sabbaths. 

In  the  church-yard  of  Devizes,  is  a  monument  with 
the  following  inscription : — 

“  In  Memory 

Of  the  unfortunate  end  of 

Robert  Merrit,  and  Susannah,  his  wife;  Elizabeth  Tiley 
her  sister;  Martha  Carter,  and  Joseph  Derham, 
Who  were  all  drowned  in  the  flower  of  their  youth, 
In  a  pond  near  the  town  called  Drews, 

On  Sunday  the  30th  June; 

And  are  together  underneath  entombed.” 


EZEKIEL  XXVI. 


191 


On  another  part  of  the  stone  is  added — 

“Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy. 

This  Monument,  as  an  awful  monitor  to  young  people, 
To  remember  their  Creator  in  the  days  of  their  youth, 
Was  erected  by  subscription.” 

xxiv.  18. — So  I  spake  unto  the  people  in  the 
morning :  and  at  even  my  wife  died. 

Mr.  Matthew  Henry’s  first  wife  was  seized  with  the 
small-pox,  when  in  child-bed,  and  died.  Mr.  Tong,  the 
writer,of  his  life,  though  living  at  a  distance  of  eighteen 
miles,  immediately  visited  the  sorrowing  family.  The 
first  words  Mr.  Henry  spoke  to  him  on  this  occasion, 
with  many  tears,  were,  “I  know  nothing  could  support 
me  under  such  a  loss  as  this,  but  the  good  hope  I  have 
that  she  is  gone  to  heaven,  and  that  in  a  little  time  I 
shall  follow  her  thither.” 

xxv.  7. — I  will  stretch  out  mine  hand  upon  thee, 
and  will  deliver  thee  for  a  spoil  to  the  heathen  ; 
and  I  will  cut  thee  off  from  the  people,  and  I  will 
cause  thee  to  perish  out  of  the  countries. 

Chateaubriand,  the  French  traveller,  speaking  of  the 
range  of  mountains  that  extend  from  north  to  south, 
east  of  the  Jordan,  together  with  the  contiguous  country, 
says,  “  Nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  black  perpendicular 
rocks,  which  throw  their  lengthened  shadow  over  the 
waters  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  smallest  bird  of  heaven 
would  not  find  among  the  rocks  a  blade  of  grass  for  its 
sustenance ;  every  thing  there  announces  the  country 
of  a  reprobate  people,  and  seems  to  breathe  the  horror 
and  incest  whence  sprung  Ammon  and  Moab.” 

xxvi.  14. — I  will  make  thee  like  the  top  of  a 
rock :  thou  shalt  be  a  place  to  spread  nets  upon. 

“The  famous  Huetius,”  says  Bishop  Newton  in  his 
Dissertations,  “  knew  one  Hadrianus  Parvillerius,  a  Je- 


192 


EZEKIEL  XXVIII. 


suit,  a  very  candid  man,  and  a  master  of  Arabic,  who 
resided  ten  years  in  Syria;  and  he  remembers  to  have 
heard  him  sometimes  say,  that  when  he  approached  the 
ruins  of  Tyre,  and  beheld  the  rocks  stretched  forth  to 
the  sea,  and  the  great  stones  scattered  up  and  down  on 
the  shore,  made  clean  and  smooth  by  the  sun,  and 
waves,  and  winds,  and  useful  only  for  the  drying  of 
fishermen’s  nets,  many  of  which  happened  at  that  time 
to  be  spread  thereon,  it  brought  to  his  memory  this  pro¬ 
phecy  of  Ezekiel  concerning  Tyre — ‘  I  will  make  thee 
like  the  top  of  a  rock:  thou  shalt  be  a  place  to  spread 
nets  upon;  thou  shalt  be  built  no  more;  for  I  the  Lord 
have  spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord  God.’  ” 

xxvii.  32. — They  shall  lament  over  thee,  say¬ 
ing,  What  city  is  like  Tyrus,  like  the  destroyed 
in  the  midst  of  the  sea  1 

Mr.  Maundrell,  in  his  “Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jeru¬ 
salem,”  describing  Tyre,  says,  “This  city,  standing  in 
the  sea  upon  a  peninsula,  promises  at  a  distance, 
something  very  magnificent.  But  when  you  come  to 
it,  you  find  no  similitude  of  that  glory,  for  which  it  was 
so  renowned  in  ancient  times,  and  which  the  prophet 
Ezekiel  describes.  On  the  north  side  it  has  an  old 
Turkish  ungarrisoned  castle;  besides  which,  you  see 
nothing  here  but  a  mere  Babel  of  broken  walls,  pillars, 
vaults,  &c.,  there  being  not  so  much  as  one  entire 
house  left:  its  present  inhabitants  are  only  a  few  poor 
Avretches,  harbouring  themselves  in  the  vaults,  and  sub¬ 
sisting  chiefly  by  fishing,  who  seem  to  be  preserved  in 
this  place  by  Divine  Providence,  as  a  visible  argument 
how  God  has  fulfilled  his  word  concerning  Tyre,  viz., 
that  ‘  it  should  be  as  the  top  of  a  rock,  a  place  for  fish¬ 
ers  to  dry  their  nets  on.’  ” 

xxviii.  5. — By  thy  great  wisdom,  and  by  thy 
traffic,  hast  thou  increased  thy  riches,  and  thine 
heart  is  lifted  up  because  of  thy  riches. 

In  the  strait  between  Johor  and  Rhio,  there  is  a  small 


EZEKIEL  XXX. 


193 


white  rock,  called  the  “White  Stone,”  very  little  eleva¬ 
ted  above  the  water,  and  so  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the 
passage,  that  many  vessels,  unacquainted  with  it,  have 
been  wrecked  upon  it.  A  Portuguese  merchant  passing 
this  strait,  in  a  vessel  of  his  own,  richly  laden  with  gold, 
and  other  valuable  commodities,  asked  the  pilot  when 
this  rock  would  be  passed;  but  each  moment  appear¬ 
ing  to  him  long  until  he  was  secure  from  the  danger, 
he  repeated  his  question  so  often,  that  the  pilot  impa¬ 
tiently  told  him  the  rock  was  passed.  The  merchant, 
transported  with  joy,  impiously  exclaimed,  that  “God 
could  not  now  make  him  poor.”  But  in  a  little  while, 
the  vessel  struck  on  the  White  Stone,  and  all  his  wealth 
was  engulphed  in  the  abyss :  life  alone  remained,  to 
make  him  feel  his  misery  and  his  punishment. 

xxix.  3. — Pharaoh  hath  said,  My  river  is  mine 
own,  and  I  have  made  it  for  myself. 

When  the  force  of  the  current  had  carried  away  the 
temporary  bridge  which  Xerxes  had  caused  to  be 
thrown  over  the  Hellespont,  on  his  grand  expedition 
into  Greece,  he  was  so  enraged,  that  he  not  only  ordered 
the  heads  of  the  workmen  to  be  struck  otf,  but,  like  a 
madman,  inflicted  lashes  upon  the  sea,  to  punish  it  for 
its  insolence :  he,  moreover,  affected  to  hold  it  in  future 
under  his  control,  by  throwing  fetters  into  it!  “A 
striking  proof,”  adds  the  historian,  “  how  much  the  pos¬ 
session  of  despotic  power  tends  not  only  to  corrupt  the 
heart,  but  even  to  weaken  and  blind  the  understanding.” 

xxx.  13. — I  will  also  destroy  the  idols,  and  I  will 
cause  their  images  to  cease. 

One  day,  while  Mr.  Wilson  was  teaching  the  people 
of  Raiatea,  a  South  Sea  island,  an  old  man  stood  up, 
and  exclaimed,  “My  forefathers  worshipped  Oro,  the 
god  of  war,  and  so  have  I;  nor  shall  any  thing  you  can 
say  persuade  me  to  forsake  this  way.  And,”  con¬ 
tinued  he,  addressing  the  missionary,  “what  do  you 
want  more  than  you  have  already!  Have  you  not  won 
over  such  a  chief,  and  such  a  chief! — aye,  and  you 

17 


194 


EZEKIEL  XXXII. 


have  Pomare  himself! — what  want  you  morel” — “All 
— all  the  people  of  Raiatea,  and  you  yourself,  I  want!” 
replied  Mr.  Wilson.  “No,  no,”  cried  the  old  man; 

“  me  ! — you  shall  never  have  me  !  I  will  do  as  my  fa-  ' 
thers  have  done  : — I  will  worship  Oro :  you  shall  never 
have  me,  I  assure  you.”  Yet,  within  six  months  from 
that  time,  this  staunch,  inflexible,  inveterate  adherent 
of  the  bloody  superstition  of  Oro  (the  Moloch  of  the 
Pacific)  abandoned  his  idol,  and  became  a  worshipper 
of  the  true  God. 

xxxi.  14. — They  are  all  delivered  unto  death, 
to  the  nether  parts  of  the  earth,  in  the  midst  of 
the  children  of  men,  with  them  that  go  down  to 
the  pit. 

A  Sultan  amusing  himself  with  walking,  observed  a 
dervise  sitting  with  a  human  skull  in  his  lap,  and  ap¬ 
pearing  to  be  in  a  very  profound  reverie.  His  attitude 
and  manner  surprised  the  Sultan,  who  demanded  the 
cause  of  his  being  so  deeply  engaged  in  reflection. 

“  Sire,”  said  the  dervise,  “  this  skull  was  presented  to 
me  this  morning;  and  I  have  from  that  moment  been 
endeavouring,  in  vain,  to  discover  whether  it  is  the 
skull  of  a  powerful  monarch,  like  your  Majesty,  or  of  a 
poor  dervise  like  myself.” — A  humbling  consideration 
truly ! 

“Earth’s  highest  station  ends  in — Here  he  lies ; 

And  dust  to  dust  concludes  her  noblest  song.” 

xxxii.  25. — Though  their  terror  was  caused  in 
the  land  of  the  living,  yet  have  they  borne  their 
shame  with  them  that  go  down  to  the  pit :  he  is 
put  in  the  midst  of  them  that  be  slain. 

Philip,  King  of  Macedon,  as  he  was  wrestling  at  the 
Olympic  games,  fell  down  in  the  sand;  and,  when  he 
rose  again,  observing  the  print  of  his  body  in  the  sand, 
cried  out,  “  0  how  little  a  parcel  of  earth  will  hold  us 


EZEKIEL  XXXV. 


195 


when  we  are  dead,  who  are  ambitiously  seeking  after 
the  whole  world  whilst  we  are  living !” 

xxxiii.  10. — If  our  transgressions  and  our  sins 
be  upon  us,  and  we  pine  away  in  them,  how  should 
we  then  live  1 

A  minister  of  the  gospel,  when  preaching  from  the 
preceding  text,  said,  “I  knew  a  poor  widow  who  had 
got  into  a  little  debt  that  was  a  burden  upon  her,  which 
she  could  not  remove,  just  as  sin  is  a  debt  or  burden 
upon  the  conscience,  which  no  man  is  able  to  cast  off. 
Well,  what  could  the  widow  do!  Her  language  to 
herself  was,  ‘How  can  I  live  with  this  burden!  My 
little  furniture, — my  all  will  be  sold ! — I  must  go  to  the 
■workhouse,  where  I  must  mix  with  bad  people,  who 
know  not  my  Saviour,  and  who  take  his  name  in  vain! 
A  benevolent  individual  hearing  of  her  distress,  sent  to 
the  creditor,  desiring  him  to  bring  a  receipt  in  full,  and 
he  should  have  his  money.  He  took  the  receipt,  and 
gave  it  to  the  widow.  ‘  O,’  said  she,  ‘  now  I  shall  live  ! 
I  shall  live !’ — This  little  story  the  minister  applied,  in 
the  most  simple  manner,  to  the  atonement  of  Christ, 
and  his  payment  of  the  debt  of  his  people. 

xxxiv.  3. — Ye  eat  the  fat,  and  ye  clothe  you 
with  the  wool,  ye  kill  them  that  are  fed :  but  ye 
feed  not  the  flock. 

As  one  of  the  Princes  of  Orange  was  passing  through 
a  village  one  Sabbath-day,  he  asked  the  people,  “  Who 
is  the  man  in  black  playing  at  tennis!”  He  was  an¬ 
swered,  “The  man  who  has  the  care  of  our  souls.” — 
“  Good  people,”  said  the  Prince,  “  is  this  the  man  who 
has  the  care  of  your  souls!  You  had  best  then  look 
about  you,  and  take  a  little  care  of  them  yourselves.” 

xxxv.  5. — Thou  hast  had  a  perpetual  hatred, 
and  hast  shed  the  blood  of  the  children  of  Israel 
by  the  force  of  the  sword. 


196 


EZEKIEL  XXXVI. 


Among  the  Circassians,  the  spirit  of  resentment  is 
so  strong,  that  all  the  relatives  of  the  murderer  are  con¬ 
sidered  as  guilty.  This  customary  infatuation  to  avenge 
the  blood  of  relatives,  generates  most  of  the  feuds,  and 
occasions  great  bloodshed  among  all  the  tribes  of  Cau¬ 
casus  ;  for  unless  pardon  be  purchased,  or  obtained  by 
intermarriage  between  the  two  families,  tire  principle 
of  revenge  is  propagated  to  all  succeeding  generations. 
The  hatred  which  the  mountainous  nations  evince 
against  the  Russians,  arises,  in  a  great  measure,  from 
the  same  source.  If  the  thirst  of  vengeance  is  quench¬ 
ed  by  a  price  paid  to  the  family  of  the  deceased,  this 
tribute  is  called  Thlil-Uasa,  or  the  price  of  blood ;  but 
neither  princes  nor  Usdens  accept  of  such  a  compen¬ 
sation,  as  it  is  an  established  law  among  them,  to  de¬ 
mand  blood  for  blood. 

xxxvi.  26. — A  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you, 
and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you  :  and  I  will 
take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and 
1  will  give  you  an  heart  of  flesh. 

The  late  Mr.  Reader  of  Taunton,  having  called  one 
day,  in  the  course  of  his  pastoral  visits,  at  the  house 
of  a  friend,  affectionately  noticed  a  child  in  the  room, 
a  little  girl  about  six  years  of  age. — Among  other  things, 
he  asked  her  if  she  knew  that  she  had  a  bad  heart,  and 
opening  the  Bible,  pointed  her  to  the  passage  where 
the  Lord  promises  to  give  a  new  heart.  He  entreated 
her  to  plead  this  promise  in  prayer,  and  she  would  find 
the  Almighty  faithful  to  his  engagement.  About  seven¬ 
teen  years  after,  a  lady  came  to  him,  to  propose  herself 
for  communion  with  the  church,  and  how  inexpressible 
was  his  delight,  when  he  found  that  she  was  the  very 
person  with  whom,  when  a  child,  he  had  so  freely  con¬ 
versed  on  subjects  of  religion,  and  that  the  conversa¬ 
tion  was  blessed  for  her  conversion  to  God.  Taking 
her  Bible,  she  had  retired,  as  he  advised,  pleaded  the 
promise,  wept,  and  prayed;  and  the  Lord,  in  answer  to 
her  fervent  petitions,  gave  her  what  she  so  earnestly 
desired — a  new  heart. 


EZEKIEL  XXXIX. 


197 


xxxvii.  5. — Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  unto  these 
bones,  Behold,  I  will  cause  breath  to  enter  into 
you,  and  ye  shall  live. 

“  I  remember,”  says  Rowland  Hill,  “  once  conversing 
with  a  celebrated  sculptor,  who  had  been  hewing  out  a 
block  of  marble  to  represent  one  of  our  great  patriots — 
Lord  Chatham.  ‘There,’ said  he;  ‘is  not  that  a  fine 
form1?’ — ‘Now,  sir,’  said  I, ‘can  you  put  life  into  it? 
else,  with  all  its  beauty,  it  is  still  but  a  block  of  marble.’ 
Christ,  by  his  Spirit,  puts  life  into  a  beauteous  image, 
and  enables  the  man  He  forms  to  live  to  his  praise  and 
glory.” 

xxxviii.  10. — Things  shall  come  into  thy  mind, 
and  thou  shalt  think  an  evil  thought. 

Nicholson,  the  murderer  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bonar,  at 
Chiselhurst,  in  Kent,  who  paid  the  forfeit  of  his  life  to 
the  violated  laws  of  his  country,  declared  solemnly  in 
writing,  after  sentence  of  death  was  passed  upon  him, 
that  he  had  no  previous  malice  towards  the  parties,  nor 
intention  to  murder  them,  five  minutes  before  he  com¬ 
mitted  the  horrid  deed;  but  that  suddenly,  as  he  awoke, 
the  thought  suggested  itself  to  his  mind,  and  which  he 
can  only  account  for  by  confessing,  “that  he  had  long 
lived  in  utter  forgetfulness  of  God,  and  was  in  the  habit 
of  giving  way  to  the  worst  passions  of  the  human 
heart.” 

xxxix.  21. — I  will  set  my  glory  among  the 
heathen. 

Mr.  Stewart,  in  describing  a  worshipping  assembly 
at  Hido,  one  of  the  Sandwich  islands,  says,  “At  an  early 
hour  of  the  morning,  even  before  we  had  taken  our 
breakfast  on  board  ship,  a  single  islander  here  or  there, 
or  a  group  of  three  or  four,  wrapped  in  their  large 
mantles  of  various  hues,  might  be  seen  wending  their 
way  among  the  groves  fringing  their  bay  on  the  east, 
or  descending  from  the  hills  and  ravine  on  the  north, 

17* 


198 


EZEKIEL  XLI. 


towards  the  chapel ;  and  by  degrees  their  numbers  in¬ 
creased,  till  in  a  short  time,  every  path  along  the  beach, 
and  over  the  uplands,  presented  an  almost  uninterrupt¬ 
ed  procession  of  both  sexes,  and  of  every  age,  all  press¬ 
ing  to  the  house  of  God.  So  few  canoes  were  round 
the  ship  yesterday,  and  the  landing-place  had  been  so 
little  thronged,  as  our  boats  passed  to  and  fro,  that  one 
might  have  thought  the  district  but  thinly  inhabited ; 
but  now  such  multitudes  were  seen  gathering  from 
various  directions,  that  the  exclamation,  ‘  what  crowds 
of  people !  what  crowds  of  people  !’  was  heard  from 
the  quarter-deck  to  the  forecastle. — What  a  change — 
what  a  happy  change !  when  at  this  very  place,  only 
four  years  ago,  the  known  wishes  and  example  of  chiefs 
of  high  authority,  the  daily  persuasion  of  teachers, 
added  to  motives  of  curiosity  and  novelty,  could  scarce 
induce  a  hundred  of  the  inhabitants  to  give  an  irregu¬ 
lar,  careless,  and  impatient  attendance  on  the  services 
of  the  sanctuary:  but  now, 

“Like  mountain  torrents  pouring  to  the  main, 

From  every  glen  a  living  stream  came  forth ; 

From  every  hill  in  crowds  they  hastened  down, 

To  worship  Him  who  deigns  in  humblest  fane, 

On  wildest  shore,  to  meet  the  upright  in  heart.” 

xl.  4. — Declare  all  that  thou  seest  to  the  house 
of  Israel. 

The  late  Rev.  David  Brown  of  Calcutta  was  remark¬ 
able  for  a  deeply  serious  and  impressive  manner  in 
preaching,  which  had  perhaps  a  greater  force  than  his 
words  :  of  this,  a  sensible  hearer  once  observed,  “Who¬ 
soever  may  not  believe  as  Mr.  Brown  preaches,  he 
makes  it  impossible  to  suspect  he  does  not  believe  so 
himself ;  for  which  reason  alone  we  cannot  but  be  at¬ 
tentive  hearers,  when  we  see  him  evidently  so  much 
in  earnest.” 

t 

xli.  22. — This  is  the  table  that  is  before  the  Lord. 

Mr.  Oliver  Heywood  had  been  settled  at  Coley  in 


EZEKIEL  XLII. 


199 


England,  for  seven  years,  during  which  time  the  Lord’s 
Supper  was  not  administered,  nor,  indeed,  had  been  so 
for  nine  years  previous  to  his  settlement.  He  was 
deeply  affected  with  the  omission ;  and  having  long 
revolved  the  subject  in  his  mind,  he  was  now  deter¬ 
mined  to  re-establish  the  divine  institution  in  his 
chapel.  He  foresaw  that  difficulties  would  arise,  as  he 
could  not  conscientiously  admit  all  persons  indiscrimi¬ 
nately  to  the  table  of  the  Lord.  In  a  prudent  and  cau¬ 
tious  manner,  he  gradually  introduced  the  subject  to 
the  notice  of  his  people,  by  preaching  a  course  of  ser¬ 
mons  on  the  nature,  obligations,  and  advantages  of  the 
ordinance,  and  the  qualifications  of  candidates.  After 
having  prepared  the  way,  he  at  length  announced  his 
intention,  and  proposed  that  application  should  be  made 
to  him  personally  by  all  who  desired  to  participate  in 
this  feast  of  love.  Considerable  numbers  applied,  and 
the  conversations  he  held  with  them  were  mutually 
beneficial  and  gratifying.  Their  names  were  entered 
as  candidates.  After  having  prepared  the  way,  he  at 
length  announced,  that  if  any  objection  should  be  taken 
against  individuals,  he  might  be  informed  of  it  previous 
to  the  administration.  Some  of  his  hearers  and  warm¬ 
est  admirers,  whose  lives  did  no  honour  to  their  pro¬ 
fessions,  took  offence  at  the  proceeding,  and  declared 
that  they  would  come  to  the  table  and  participate  in  the 
ordinance.  Their  courage,  however,  failed  them  after 
hearing  the  “preparation  sermon.”  The  ordinance 
was  at  length  administered;  and  great  was  the  joy  ex¬ 
perienced  both  by  Mr.  Hey  wood  and  the  communicants 
on  this  occasion.  It  was  a  season  of  “  refreshing  from 
the  presence  of  the  Lord,”  and  a  day  long  to  be  remem¬ 
bered. 

xlii.  13. — The  place  is  holy. 

A  scoffing  infidel,  of  considerable  talents,  being  once 
in  company  with  a  person  of  truly  religious  character, 
put  the  following  question  to  him : — “  I  understand,  sir, 
that  you  expect  to  go  to  heaven  when  you  die :  can  you 
tell  me  what  sort  of  a  place  heaven  is?” — “Yes,  sir,” 
replied  the  Christian,  “  heaven  is  a  prepared  place  for 
a  prepared  people,  and  if  your  soul  is  not  prepared  for 


200 


EZEKIEL  XL  Vi 


it,  with  all  your  boasted  wisdom,  you  will  never  enter 
there.” 

xliii.  11. — Write  it  in  their  sight,  that  they 
may  keep  the  whole  form  thereof,  and  all  the  or¬ 
dinances  thereof,  and  do  them. 

The  church  at  Turvey,  in  which  Mr.  Legh  Richmond 
officiated,  had  a  most  appropriate  selection  of  texts  of 
Scripture  inscribed  on  its  walls,  chosen  by  him  with 
great  care,  and  exhibiting  a  complete  system  of  divin¬ 
ity.  “I  wish,”  said  Mr.  Richmond,  “  when  I  can  no 
longer  preach  to  my  flock,  that  the  walls  should  remind 
them  of  what  they  have  heard  from  me.  The  eye, 
though  wandering  in  thoughtless  vacancy,  may  catch 
something  to  affect  the  heart.” 

xliv.  12. — They  caused  the  house  of  Israel  to 
fall  into  iniquity. 

“Stepping,”  says  one,  “into  a  Hackney  stage  in  Lon¬ 
don  one  Saturday  evening,  I  perceived  a  decent-look¬ 
ing  young  woman  had  already  taken  her  seat.  In  the 
course  of  a  little  conversation,  it  appeared  that  she  was 
a  Jewess,  who  had  that  day  been  at  the  synagogue,  and 
was  returning  to  Hackney,  where  she  resided.  Being, 
at  that  time,  a  Hebrew  student  myself,  I  was  pleased 
with  the  opportunity  of  conversing  with  this  young  per¬ 
son,  on  the  subject  of  the  Hebrew  language,  which  she 
seemed  to  understand.  The  pleasure  of  the  conversa¬ 
tion,  however,  was  interrupted  by  the  circumstance  of 
her  occasionally  taking  God’s  name  in  vain.  This  led 
me  to  observe  to  her,  that  I  was  much  surprised  that 
she  should  thus  take  the  Lord’s  name  in  vain,  in  En¬ 
glish,  since  I  understood  the  Jews  professed  such  a 
peculiar  veneration  for  the  Hebrew  name,  Jehovah, 
that  they  used  another  word  in  its  place  in  reading  their 
own  Scriptures.  The  answer  which  she  returned  was, 
‘  The  Christians  do  so.’  ” 

xlv.  12. — The  shekels  shall  be  twenty  gerahs  : 


EZEKIEL  XLVI. 


201 


twenty  shekels,  five  and  twenty  shekels,  fifteen 
shekels,  shall  be  your  maneh. 

In  a  MS.,  to  which  Mr.  Harmer  often  refers,  it  is 
stated,  that  it  is  the  custom  of  the  East,  in  their  ac¬ 
counts  and  their  reckonings  of  a  sum  of  money,  to 
specify  the  different  parts  of  which  it  is  composed ; 
talking  after  this  manner;  I  owe  twenty-five — of  which 
the  half  is  twelve  and  one-half,  the  quarter  six  and  one- 
fourth,  &c.  This  appears  very  strange  to  us ;  but  if  it 
was  the  custom  of  those  countries,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Ezekiel  reckoned  after  this  manner. 

xlvi.  12. — They  shall  prepare  the  lamb,  and 
the  meat-offering,  and  the  oil,  every  morning,  for 
a  continual  burnt-offering. 

The  morning  and  evening  sacrifice  under  the  law, 
has  often  been  referred  to  as  emblematical  of  the  morn¬ 
ing  and  evening  sacrifices  of  prayer  and  praise  pre¬ 
sented  by  Christians  under  the  gospel,  through  faith  in 
the  Redeemer;  and  it  is  matter  of  regret  that  these 
should,  in  many  instances,  be  altogether  neglected,  and 
in  others,  but  occasionally  attended  to.  In  the  follow¬ 
ing  case,  a  reproo'f  for  an  omission  of  family  prayer, 
comes  from  an  unexpected  quarter: — 

“I  knew  a  man,”  says  an  author,  “who  once  receiv¬ 
ed  one  of  the  most  severe  reproofs  he  ever  met  with 
from  his  own  child,  an  infant  of  three  years  old. 
Family  prayer  had  been,  by  some  means,  neglected 
one  morning,  and  the  child  was,  as  it  were,  out  of  his 
element.  At  length  he  came  to  his  father  as  he  sat, 
and  just  as  the  family  were  going  to  dinner,  the  little 
reprover,  leaning  on  his  father’s  knee,  said,  with  a 
sigh,  ‘  Pa,  you  were  used  to  go  to  prayer  with  us,  but 
you  did  not  to-day.’ — ‘  No,  my  dear,’  said  the  parent,  ‘  I 
did  not.’ — ‘But,  pa,  you  ought;  why  did  you  not1?’  In 
short,  the  father  had  not  a  word  to  reply,  and  the  child’s 
rebuke  was  as  appropriate  and  effectual,  as  if  it  had 
been  administered  by  the  most  able  minister  in  the 
fhnd;  and,  it  may  be  added,  had  as  permanent  an  in¬ 
fluence.” 


202 


DANIEL  I. 


xlvii.  10. — Their  fish  shall  be  according  to  their 
kinds,  as  the  fish  of  the  great  sea,  exceeding 
many. 

Doubdan,  speaking  of  his  going  by  sea  from  Sidon 
to  Joppa,  in  his  way  to  Jerusalem,  says,  that  on  enter¬ 
ing  into  that  port,  they  found  it  so  abounding  in  fish, 
“that  a  great  fish  pursuing  one  somewhat  less,  both 
of  them  sprung  at  the  same  time  about  three  feet  out 
of  the  water;  the  first  dropped  into  the  middle  of  the 
bark,  and  the  other  fell  so  near  that  they  had  well  nigh 
taken  it  with  their  hands;  this  happened  very  luckily, 
as  it  afforded  our  sailors  a  treat.” 

xlviii.  35. — The  Lord  is  there. 

In  some  part  of  the  United  States  of  America,  the  at¬ 
tendance  at  a  prayer  meeting  had  so  declined,  that 
some  persons  advised  that  it  should  be  given  up,  which 
was  accordingly  done.  On  the  following  Tuesday,  a 
poor  infirm  old  woman,  a  constant  attendant,  was  seen, 
as  usual,  hobbling  along  to  the  chapel.  On  her  return, 
some  one  met  her  and  said,  “Why,  you  forgot  that  the 
prayer  meeting  was  given  up ;  there  was  not  any  one 
there,  was  there 1” — “O  yes,”  said  the  woman,  “there 
was  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  a  glorious  time  we  had,  and  they  promised 
to  meet  me  again,  next  Tuesday  night.”  From  that 
time  the  place  was  crowded,  and  nothing  more  was 
heard  about  giving  it  up. 

— ♦ - 

DANIEL. 

Chap.  i.  8. — Daniel  purposed  in  his  heart  that  he 
would  not  defile  himself  with  the  portion  of  the 
king’s  meat,  nor  with  the  wine  which  he  drank.  ^ 

Dr.  Philip  mentions  that  some  Dutch  merchants 


DANIEL  II. 


203 


opened  a  storehouse  for  selling  ardent  spirits,  on  the 
borders  of  one  of  the  missionary  settlements  in  South 
Africa,  which  would  have  counteracted  all  the  benefi¬ 
cial  effects  of  the  gospel  on  the  poor  untutored  natives, 
had  not  the  missionaries  fallen  on  a  happy  expedient 
for  defeating  its  baneful  effects.  When  they  heard  of 
one  of  their  converts  entering  into  the  storehouse  to 
purchase  ardent  spirits,  they  caused  his  name  on  the 
following  Sabbath  to  be  read  before  the  congregation, 
that  the  minister  and  the  whole  church  might  unite  in 
prayer  on  behalf  of  a  brother  exposed  to  great  and  dan¬ 
gerous  temptation.  This  had  so  salutary  an  effect,  that 
henceforth  not  a  convert  would  enter  the  spirit  shop. 
The  storehouse  was  speedily  removed,  and  caused  no 
farther  annoyance. 


ii.  1 . — Nebuchadnezzar  dreamed  dreams,  where¬ 
with  his  spirit  was  troubled,  and  his  sleep  brake 
from  him. 

In  February  1786,  Professor  Meyer  of  Halle  was 
sent  for  by  one  of  his  pupils,  a  medical  student  who 
lay  dangerously  ill.  The  patient  told  him  that  he 
should  certainly  die,  having  had  a  warning  dream  to  that 
effect.  “I  wrote  it  down,”  he  added,  “the  morning 
after  it  happened,  and  laid  it  in  a  drawer,  of  which  this 
is  the  key;  when  I  am  gone,  read  it  over.”  On  the  4th 
of  March,  the  student  died.  Professor  Meyer  opened 
the  drawer  of  the  writing-desk,  in  which  he  found  this 
narration: — “I  thought  I  was  walking  in  the  church¬ 
yard  of  Halle,  and  admiring  the  number  of  excellent 
epitaphs  which  are  cut  on  the  grave-stones  there. 
Passing  from  one  to  another,  I  was  struck  by  a  plain 
tomb-stone,  of  which  I  went  to  read  the  inscription. 
With  surprise  I  found  upon  it  my  fore-names  and  sur¬ 
name,  and  that  I  died  on  the  4th  of  March.  With  pro¬ 
gressive  anxiety  I  tried  to  read  the  date  of  the  year; 
but  I  thought  there  was  moss  over  the  fourth  cipher  of 
178 — .  I  picked  up  a  stone  to  scrape  the  figures  clean, 
and  just  as  I  began  to  distinguish  a  6,  with  fearful  pal 
pitation  I  awoke.” 


204 


DANIEL  V. 


iii.  18. — Be  it  known  unto  thee,  O  king,  that 
we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  worship  the  gold¬ 
en  image  which  thou  hast  set  up. 

Mr.  Samuel  Wesley,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  Mr. 
John  Wesley,  being  strongly  importuned  by  the  friends 
of  James  the  Second,  to  support  the  measures  of  the 
court  in  favour  of  Popery,  with  promises  of  preferment, 
absolutely  refused  even  to  read  the  king’s  declaration; 
and  though  surrounded  with  courtiers,  soldiers,  and  in¬ 
formers,  he  preached  a  bold  and  pointed  discourse 
against  it  from  these  words: — “If  it  be  so,  our  God 
whom  we  serve,  is  able  to  deliver  us  out  of  thy  hand, 
O  king.  But  if  not,  be  it  known  unto  thee,  O  king,  that 
■we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor  worship  the  golden 
image  which  thou  hast  set  up.” 

iv.  27. — O  king,  let  my  counsel  be  acceptable 
unto  thee,  and  break  off  thy  sins  by  righteousness, 
and  thine  iniquities  by  shewing  mercy  to  the  poor. 

During  the  illness  of  the  pious  King  Edward  VI., 
Dr.  Ridley,  in  a  sermon  which  he  preached  before  him, 
much  commended  works  of  charity,  and  showed  that, 
as  they  were  enjoined  on  all  men,  so  especially  on 
those  in  high  stations.  The  same  day  after  dinner,  the 
king  sent  for  the  Doctor  into  the  gallery,  made  him  sit 
in  a  chair  by  him,  and  would  not  suffer  him  to  be  un¬ 
covered.  After  thanking  the  Doctor  for  his  sermon, 
he  repeated  the  chief  heads  of  it,  and  added, — “I  took 
myself  to  be  chiefly  touched  by  your  ciiscourse ;  for  as 
in  the  kingdom  I  am  next  under  God,  so  must  I  most 
nearly  approach  to  him  in  goodness  and  mercy.  As 
our  miseries  stand  most  in  the  need  of  help  from  him, 
so  are  we  the  greatest  debtors.  And  therefore,  as  you 
have  given  me  this  general  exhortation,  direct  me,  I 
entreat  you,  by  what  particular  act  I  may  best  dis¬ 
charge  my  duty.” 

v.  19. — Whom  he  would  he  slew,  and  whom 


DANIEL  VI. 


205 


he  would  he  kept  alive,  and  whom  he  would  he 
set  up,  and  whom  he  would  he  put  down. 

At  the  court  of  France,  while  Louis  XIV.  was  yet  in 
his  youth,  some  abject  courtiers  were  entertaining  the 
prince  in  public  with  the  policy  of  the  Turkish  govern¬ 
ment.  They  observed,  that  the  Sultan  had  nothing  to 
do  but  to  say  the  word,  whatever  it  was,  whether  to 
take  off  a  great  man’s  head,  or  strip  him  of  his  employ¬ 
ment  or  estate,  and  that  there  was  a  train  of  servants 
they  called  mutes,  who  executed  it  without  reply. 
“  See,”  said  the  prince,  “  what  it  is  to  be  a  king !”  The 
old  Count  de  Grammont,  who  heard  the  corrupters  of 
the  youth  with  indignation,  immediately  interposed: 
“Bat,  Sire  !  of  these  same  sultans  I  have  known  three 
strangled  by  their  own  mutes  within  my  memory.” 
This  silenced  the  flatterers ;  and  the  Duke  de  Montau- 
sier,  the  French  Cato,  who  was  lolling  in  a  chair  behind 
the  circle  that  surrounded  the  prince,  forced  his  way 
through  the  crowd,  and  publicly  thanked  the  Count  de 
Grammont  for  his  noble  and  seasonable  liberty. 

vi.  10. — When  Daniel  knew  that  the  writing 
was  signed,  he  went  into  his  house ;  and  his  win¬ 
dows  being  open  in  his  chamber  towards  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  he  kneeled  upon  his  knees  three  times  a-day, 
and  prayed,  and  gave  thanks  before  his  God,  as  he 
did  aforetime. 

Some  time  ago,  a  law  was  passed  in  the  house  of 
Assembly  at  Kingston,  which  contained  several  clauses 
highly  injurious  to  the  missionary  cause  in  Jamaica. 
No  time  was  lost  in  carrying  its  oppressive  enactments 
into  effect.  A  Wesleyan  missionary  was  thrown  into 
prison  for  the  alleged  “  crime”  of  preaching  till  after 
eight  o’clock  in  the  evening.  Two  persons  connected 
with  the  congregation  at  Montego  Bay,  had  their  houses 
levelled  with  the  ground — their  feet  made  fast  in  the 
stocks — and  were  sent  in  chains  to  the  workhouse, 
charged  with  the  heinous  offence  of  praying  to  the  God 

18 


206 


DANIEL  VII. 


of  heaven.  One  of  these,  however,  proved  so  incorri 
gible,  that  they  were  obliged  to  give  him  up  in  despair. 
Having  nothing  to  do  besides  in  the  jail,  he  spent  his 
time — morning,  noon,  and  night — in  singing,  and  in 
calling  upon  God;  which  so  annoyed  the  jailer,  that  he 
repeatedly  went  into  his  cell  and  beat  him,  till  at  length 
the  jailer  brought  him  again  before  the  court  for  this 
sin.  The  man,  however,  resolutely  declared  his  pur¬ 
pose  to  pray.  “  If  you  let  me  go,”  said  he,  “  me  will 
pray — if  you  keep  me  in  prison,  me  will  pray — if  you 
flog  me,  me  will  pray;  pray  me  must,  and  pray  me 
will!”  The  jailer  was  fairly  confounded ;  and,  rather 
than  be  annoyed  any  longer  by  this  “praying  fellow,” 
he  gave  up  his  fees,  and  a  part  of  the  fine  was  remitted; 
and  so  the  man  was  dismissed  to  go  and  pray  else¬ 
where. 

vii.  1. — In  the  first  year  of  Belshazzar  king  of 
Babylon,  Daniel  had  a  dream,  and  visions  of  his 
head  upon  his  bed :  then  he  wrote  the  dream,  and 
told  the  sum  of  the  matters. 

Before  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Notcult  had  any  idea  of  remov¬ 
ing  from  their  residence  in  Essex,  Mrs.  N.  dreamed 
one  night,  tha>  they  went  to  live  at  Ipswich,  and  the 
house  in  which  she  imagined  they  resided,  was  so  im¬ 
pressed  on  her  mind,  that  when  she  actually  went  there, 
some  years  afterwards,  she  had  a  perfect  recollection 
of  it.  She  also  dreamed,  that  as  she  was  going  to  a 
closet  in  the  parlour,  her  nose  began  to  bleed,  and  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  stop  it,  until  she  had  lost  so 
much  blood  as  to  occasion  her  death,  which  event 
should  happen  forty  years  from  that  day.  As  her  mind 
was  deeply  impressed,  she  wrote  down  in  her  pocket- 
book,  the  day  of  the  month  and  year  in  which  her 
dream  occurred.  Some  time  after,  they  went  to  reside 
at  Ipswich,  and  Mrs.  N.  was  surprised  to  find  the  house 
exactly  correspond  with  the  one  she  had  seen  in  her 
dream,  and  also  the  very  same  closet,  in  going  to  which 
the  fatal  accident  happened.  But  parental  duties,  and 
the  busy  concerns  of  life,  engaging  her  attention,  the 


DANIEL  IX. 


207 


circumstance  was  soon  forgotten,  and  the  closet  fre¬ 
quented  for  a  number  of  years,  without  any  fear  of  the 
accomplishment  of  her  dream.  On  Christmas  day, 
1755,  as  she  was  reaching  a  bottle  of  drops  from  the 
closet,  to  give  Mr.  Notcult,  who  was  confined  to  a  couch 
in  the  room,  her  nose  began  to  bleed.  Finding,  after 
some  time,  all  attempts  to  stop  the  blood  ineffectual,  her 
dream  came  to  her  recollection,  and  she  requested  one 
of  her  attendants  to  fetch  her  pocket-book,  directing 
him  where  to  find  it.  Upon  examining  it,  they  found, 
to  their  unspeakable  surprise,  that  it  was  exactly  forty 
years  from  the  time  her  dream  occurred.  All  methods 
were  tried  without  effect,  and  as  the  medical  attendant 
entered  the  room,  she  said  to  him,  “  You  may  try  to  stop 
the  bleeding,  if  you  please,  but  you  will  not  be  able.” 
After  languishing  from  Thursday  till  Saturday,  she 
sweetly  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 

viii.  17. — Understand,  O  son  of  man  ;  for  at  the 
time  of  the  end  shall  be  the  vision. 

“  Thanks  to  Divine  goodness,”  says  Dr.  Payson  of 
America,  “  this  has  been  a  good  day  to  me.  Was  fa¬ 
voured  with  considerable  freedom  in  the  morning,  and 
rejoiced  in  the  Lord  through  the  day.  In  the  evening 
felt  an  unusual  degree  of  assistance,  both  in  prayer  and 
study.  Since  I  began  to  beg  God’s  blessing  on  my 
studies,  I  have  done  more  in  one  week,  than  in  the 
whole  year  before.  Surely,  it  is  good  to  draw  near  to 
God  at  all  times.” 

ix.  23. — At  the  beginning  of  thy  supplications 
the  commandment  came  forth,  and  I  am  come  to 
shew  thee  ;  for  thou  art  greatly  beloved  :  therefore 
understand  the  matter,  and  consider  the  vision. 

A  gentleman  having  been  deeply  engaged  in  abstruse 
speculations  as  to  the  distance  from  one  planet  to 
another,  and  the  length  of  time  that  would  be  required 
to  travel  such  a  distance,  carried  his  speculation  so  far 
as  to  inquire, — “  Supposing  heaven  to  be  a  place,  what 


208 


DANIEL  X. 


may  be  supposed  its  distance,  and  the  time  required  for 
locomotion,  from  one  world  to  the  other  1”  A  lady 
present  promptly  replied, — “It  is  not  a  matter  of  mere 
conjecture,  but  admits  of  a  satisfactory  and  scriptural 
solution.  While  a  godly  man  prays  and  makes  con¬ 
fession  with  supplication  to  his  God,  there  is  time 
enough  for  the  commandment  to  go  forth  in  heaven, 
and  an  angel,  swift  in  flight,  to  reach  earth  with  an 
answer  of  mercy.” 

x.  8. — I  was  left  alone,  and  saw  this  great  vision, 
and  there  remained  no  strength  in  me  :  for  my 
comeliness  was  turned  in  me  unto  corruption,  and 
I  retained  no  strength. 

The  Rev.  William  Tennant  of  America  had  preached 
one  Lord’s  day  morning  to  his  congregation,  and  in  the 
intermission  had  walked  into  the  woods  for  meditation, 
the  weather  being  warm.  He  was  reflecting  on  the  in¬ 
finite  wisdom  of  God,  as  manifested  in  all  his  works, 
and  particularly  in  the  wonderful  method  of  salvation 
through  the  death  and  sufferings  of  his  beloved  Son. 
This  subject  suddenly  opened  on  his  mind  with  such  a 
flood  of  light,  that  his  views  of  the  glory  and  the  infi¬ 
nite  majesty  of  Jehovah  were  so  inexpressibly  great, 
as  entirely  to  overwhelm  him  ;  and  he  fell  almost  life¬ 
less  to  the  ground.  When  he  had  revived  a  little,  all 
he  could  do  was  to  raise  a  fervent  prayer,  that  God 
would  withdraw  himself  from  him,  or  that  he  must 
perish  under  a  view  of  his  ineffable  glory.  When 
able  to  reflect  on  his  situation,  he  could  not  but  abhor 
himself  as  a  weak  and  despicable  worm ;  and  seemed 
to  be  overcome  with  astonishment,  that  a  creature  so 
unworthy  and  insufficient,  had  ever  dared  to  attempt  the 
instruction  of  his  fellow-men  in  the  nature  and  attri¬ 
butes  of  so  glorious  a  Being.  Overstaying  his  usual 
time,  some  of  his  elders  went  in  search  of  him,  and 
found  him  prostrate  on  the  ground,  unable  to  rise,  and 
incapable  of  informing  them  of  the  cause.  They 
raised  him  up,  and,  after  some  time,  brought  him  to  the 
church,  and  supported  him  to  the  pulpit,  which  he  as- 


DANIEL  XI. 


209 


cended  on  his  hands  and  knees,  to  the  no  small  aston¬ 
ishment  of  the  congregation.  He  remained  silent  a 
considerable  time,  earnestly  supplicating  Almighty  God 
to  hide  himself  from  him,  that  he  might  be  enabled  to 
address  his  people,  who  were  by  this  time  lost  in  won¬ 
der  to  know  what  had  produced  this  uncommon  event. 
His  prayers  were  heard,  and  he  became  able  to  stand 
up,  by  holding  the  desk;  and  in  a  most  affecting  and 
pathetic  address,  he  gave  an  account  of  the  views  he 
had  of  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God,  and  deplored  his 
own  incapacity  to  speak  to  them  concerning  a  Being 
so  infinitely  glorious  beyond  all  his  powers  of  descrip¬ 
tion.  He  then  broke  out  into  so  fervent  and  expressive 
a  prayer,  as  greatly  to  surprise  the  congregation,  and 
draw  tears  from  every  eye.  A  sermon  followed,  which 
continued  the  solemn  scene,  and  made  very  lasting  im¬ 
pressions  on  the  hearers. 

xi.  32. — The  people  that  do  know  their  God 
shall  be  strong,  and  do  exploits. 

“I  have  lately  had  the  honour,”  said  Captain  Parry, 
at  a  public  meeting  in  1826,  “  and  I  may  truly  say,  the 
happiness  of  commanding  British  seamen  under  cir¬ 
cumstances  requiring  the  utmost  activity,  implicit  and 
immediate  obedience,  and  the  most  rigid  attention  to 
discipline  and  good  order;  and  I  am  sure,  that  the 
maintenance  of  all  these  was,  in  a  great  measure, 
owing  to  the  blessing  of  God  upon  our  humble  endeav¬ 
ours  to  improve  the  religious  and  moral  character  of 
our  men.  In  the  schools  established  on  board  our 
ships  during  the  winter,  religion  was  made  the  primary 
object,  and  the  result  was  every  way  gratifying  and 
satisfactory.  It  has  convinced  me,  that  true  religion 
is  so  far  from  being  a  hinderance  to  the  arduous 
duties  of  that  station  in  which  it  has  pleased  Provi¬ 
dence  to  cast  the  seaman’s  lot,  that,  on  the  contrary,  it 
will  always  incite  him  to  their  performance,  from  the 
highest  and  most  powerful  of  motives ;  and  I  will  ven¬ 
ture  to  predict,  that  in  proportion  as  this  spring  of  ac¬ 
tion  is  more  and  more  introduced  among  our  seamen, 
they  would  become  such  as  every  Englishman  would 


210 


DANIEL  Nil. 


wish  to  see  them.  To  this  fact,  at  least,  I  can,  on  a 
small  scale,  bear  the  most  decided  testimony;  and  the 
friends  of  religion  will  feel  a  pleasure  in  having  the 
fact  announced,  that  the  very  best  seamen  on  board  the 
Hecla — such,  I  mean,  as  were  always  called  upon  in 
any  cases  of  extraordinary  emergency — were,  without 
exception,  those  who  had  thought  the  most  seriously  on 
religious  subjects ;  and  if  a  still  more  scrupulous  selec¬ 
tion  were  to  be  made  out  of  that  number,  the  choice 
would  fall,  without  hesitation,  on  two  or  three  individ¬ 
uals  possessing  dispositions  and  sentiments  eminently 
Christian.” 

xii.  13. — But  go  thou  thy  way  till  the  end  be  : 
for  thou  shalt  rest,  and  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the  end 
of  the  days. 

In  a  certain  town  in  Providence,  there  lived  two 
young  men,  who  were  intimate  acquaintances.  The 
one  was  truly  pious ;  and  the  other,  a  shopman,  paid 
no  regard  to  the  importance  of  divine  things.  The 
shopman  took  up  a  leaf  of  the  Bible,  and  was  about  to 
tear  it  in  pieces,  and  use  it  for  packing  up  some  small 
parcels  in  the  shop,  when  the  other  said,  “  Do  not  tear 
that,  it  contains  the  word  of  eternal  life.”  The  young 
man,  though  he  did  not  relish  the  reproof  of  his  kind 
and  pious  friend,  folded  up  the  leaf  and  put  it  in  his 
pocket.  A  while  after  this,  he  said  within  himself, 
“  Now  I  will  see  what  kind  of  life  it  is  of  which  this 
leaf  speaks.”  On  unfolding  the  leaf,  the  first  words 
that  caught  his  eye,  were  the  last  in  the  book  of  Daniel 
— “  But  go  thou  thy  way  till  the  end  be :  for  thou  shalt 
rest,  and  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the  end  of  the  days.”  He 
began  immediately  to  inquire,  what  his  lot  would  be  at 
the  end  of  the  days,  and  from  this  occurrence  became 
truly  pious. 


HOSEA  II. 


211 


HOSEA. 

Chap.  i.  10. — In  the  place  where  it  was  said  unto 
them,  Ye  are  not  my  people,  there  it  shall  be  said 
unto  them,  Ye  are  the  sons  of  the  living  God. 

The  late  Rev.  Robert  Hall  of  Bristol,  when  describ¬ 
ing  the  character  of  Mr.  Robinson  of  Leicester,  says, — 
“  It  was  the  boast  of  Augustus,  that  he  found  the  city 
of  Rome  built  of  brick,  and  that  he  left  it  built  with 
marble.  Mr.  Robinson  might  say,  without  arrogance, 
that  he  had  been  the  instrument  of  effecting  a  far  more 
beneficial  and  momentous  change.  He  came  to  this 
place  while  it  was  sunk  in  vice  and  irreligion;  he  left 
it  eminently  distinguished  by  sobriety  of  manners,  and 
the  practice  of  warm,  serious,  and  enlightened  piety. 
He  did  not  add  aqueducts  and  palaces,  nor  increase 
the  splendour  of  its  public  edifices  ;  but  he  embellished 
it  with  undecaying  ornaments.  He  renovated  the 
minds  of  its  inhabitants,  and  turned  a  large  portion  of 
them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of 
Satan  to  God.  He  embellished  it  with  living  stones, 
and  replenished  it  with  numerous  temples  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  He  enlarged  its  intercourse  with  heaven,  and 
trained  a  great  portion  of  its  inhabitants  for  the  enjoy¬ 
ment  of  celestial  bliss.” 

ii.  23. — I  will  say  to  them  which  were  not  my 
people,  Thou  art  my  people ;  and  they  shall  say, 
Thou  art  my  God. 

On  one  occasion,  when  the  late  Mr.  Brown  of  Had¬ 
dington  was  exhorting  his  students  not  to  rest  satisfied 
with  a  mere  speculative  acquaintance  with  the  truths 
of  Scripture,  in  the  systems,  or  with  treasuring  them 
up  in  the  memories,  but  to  be  concerned  to  have  them 
engraven  on  their  hearts  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  he  took 
occasion  to  mention  something  of  his  own  experience, 


212 


HOSEA  IV. 


of  which  he  was  usually  very  sparing.  “  I  recollect,” 
said  he,  “  that  when  sitting  on  the  brae  of  Abernethy, 
hearing  Mr.  Wilson  of  Perth,  I  got  more  insight  into 
that  marrow  of  the  gospel,  “thy  God  and  my  God,”  than 
I  ever  got  before  or  since ;  alas !  that  it  was  so  long 
ago.” 

iii.  2, — I  bought  her  to  me  for  fifteen  pieces  of 
silver,  and  for  an  homer  of  barley,  and  an  half 
homer  of  barley. 

“Sir  John  Chardin,”  says  Harmer,  “observed  in  the 
East,  that  in  their  contracts  for  their  temporary  wives, 
— which  are  known  to  be  frequent  there,  which  contracts 
are  made  before  the  Cadi, — there  is  always  the  formal¬ 
ity  of  a  measure  of  corn  mentioned,  over  and  above 
the  sum  of  money  that  is  stipulated.  I  do  not  know  of 
any  thing  that  should  occasion  this  formality  of  late 
days  in  the  East;  it  may  possibly  be  very  ancient,  as 
it  is  apparent  this  sort  of  wife  is :  if  it  be,  it  will  per¬ 
haps  account  for  Hosea’s  purchasing  a  woman  of  this 
sort  for  fifteen  pieces  of  silver,  and  a  certain  quantity 
of  barley.” 

iv.  6. — My  people  are  destroyed  for  lack  of 
knowledge. 

Dr.  Ford,  formerly  ordinary  of  Newgate,  who  had 
continual  opportunities  of  investigating  the  fatal  cause 
of  depravity,  ascribed  the  commission  of  crimes  to  the 
want  of  religious,  as  well  as  every  moral  principle. 
Of  this  the  following  is  a  melancholy  proof: — “Going 
into  the  desk,”  says  the  doctor,  “at  the  chapel  in  New¬ 
gate,  the  first  Sunday  after  the  Sessions,  I  saw  twelve 
men  in  the  condemned  felon’s  pew,  whose  deportment 
and  dress  were  decent  and  respectable.  When  I  an¬ 
nounced  the  day  of  the  month,  and  mentioned  the 
psalm,  I  was  astonished  to  observe  that  none  of  those 
convicts  took  up  a  prayer-book,  though  several  lay  be¬ 
fore  them ;  neither  did  any  of  them  seem  to  know  a 
particle  of  the  church  service,  or  when  to  stand,  sit,  or 
kneel.  In  conversation  with  one  next  day,  I  inquired 


HOSEA  VI. 


213 


how  it  happened  that  none  of  them  opened  a  prayer- 
book  during  divine  service.  Upon  this  there  was 
rather  an  appearance  of  confusion,  and  a  dead  silence 
ensued.  I  put  the  question  a  second  time,  when  one 
of  them  hesitatingly  stammered  out,  ‘sir,  I  cannot  read 
‘  nor  I,  nor  I,  nor  I,’  was  rapidly  uttered  by  them  all.” 

v.  15. — In  their  affliction  they  will  seek  me 
early. 

Vavasor  Powell,  an  eminent  minister,  being  appoint¬ 
ed  to  preach  on  a  certain  day  in  a  meadow  in  Cardi¬ 
ganshire,  a  number  of  idle  persons,  enemies  to  religion, 
agreed  to  meet  at  the  same  time  and  place,  to  play  at 
foot-ball,  and  thereby  create  a  disturbance.  Among 
them  was  a  young  man,  named  Morgan  Howell,  of  re¬ 
spectable  family  in  that  neighbourhood,  lately  returned 
from  school,  having  finished  his  education,  who,  being 
nimble  footed  and  dexterous  at  the  game,  had  obtained 
possession  of  the  ball,  intending  to  kick  it  in  the  face 
of  the  preacher.  At  this  instant  another  person  ran 
towards  him  and  tripped  up  his  heels.  By  the  fall  his 
leg  was  broken  ;  and  after  lying  on  the  ground  in  great 
agony,  he  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  minister,  to 
whom,  on  his  arrival,  he  confessed  his  wicked  inten¬ 
tion,  and  acknowledged  that  the  just  judgment  of  God 
had  befallen  him.  The  minister  having  represented  to 
him  the  evil  and  danger  of  sin,  preached  the  power  of 
the  Saviour,  and  at  the  request  of  the  young  man,  ac¬ 
companied  him  to  his  father’s  house.  So  great  was  the 
change  produced  in  him  by  means  of  this  addiction, 
that  on  his  recovery  he  began  to  preach,  and  was  for 
many  years  the  most  laborious  preacher  in  those  parts. 

vi.  4. — Your  goodness  is  as  a  morning  cloud, 
and  as  the  early  dew  it  goeth  away. 

“  The  dew  of  the  night,”  says  Dr.  Shaw,  “  as  we  had 
only  the  heavens  for  our  covering,  would  frequently 
wet  us  to  the  skin ;  but  no  sooner  was  the  sun  risen, 
and  the  atmosphere  a  little  heated,  than  the  mists  were 
dispersed,  and  the  copious  moisture,  which  the  dew 


214 


HOSEA  IX. 


communicated  to  the  sands,  would  be  entirely  evapo¬ 
rated.” 

vii.  5. — In  the  day  of  our  king,  the  princes 
have  made  him  sick  with  bottles  of  wine  :  he 
stretched  out  his  hand  with  scorners. 

Cyrus,  when  a  youth,  being  at  the  court  of  his  grand¬ 
father  Astyages,  undertook,  one  day,  to  be  a  cup-bearer 
at  table.  It  was  the  duty  of  this  officer  to  taste  the  li¬ 
quor  before  it  was  presented  to  the  king.  Cyrus,  with¬ 
out  performing  this  ceremony,  delivered  the  cup  in  a 
very  graceful  manner  to  his  grandfather.  The  king 
observed  the  omission,  which  he  imputed  to  forgetful¬ 
ness.  “No,”  replied  Cyrus,  “I  was  afraid  to  taste,  be¬ 
cause  I  apprehended  there  was  poison  in  the  liquor: 
for  not  long  since,  at  an  entertainment  which  you  gave, 
I  observed  that  the  lords  of  your  court,  after  drinking 
of  it,  became  noisy,  quarrelsome,  and  frantic.  Even 
you,  sir,  seemed  to  have  forgotten  that  you  were  a  king.” 

viii.  14. — Israel  hath  forgotten  his  Maker. 

The  Rev.  John  Brown  of  Haddington,  offered  the  fol¬ 
lowing  advice  to  one  of  his  hearers,  whose  father  was 

an  eminent  Christian  : — “  Well, - ,  mind  these  words 

— ‘Thou  art  my  God, I  will  prepare  thee  an  habitation; 
my  father’s  God,  and  I  will  exalt  thee.’  We  should  reck¬ 
on  him  a  madman,  who  would  throw  away  a  father’s  es¬ 
tate  ;  but  he  is  much  more  foolish  who  throws  away  a 
father’s  God.” 

ix.  17. — My  God  will  cast  them  away,  because 
they  did  not  hearken  unto  him  :  and  they  shall  be 
wanderers  among  the  nations. 

Pains  had  been  early  taken  by  some  of  the  Prince 
of  Conde’s  supposed  friends,  to  shake  his  belief  in 
Christianity;  he  always  replied,  “You  give  yourselves 
a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  trouble ;  the  dispersion  of 
the  Jews  will  always  be  an  undeniable  proof  to  me  of 
the  truth  of  our  holy  religion.” 


HOSEA  XII.  215 

x.  2. — Their  heart  is  divided  ;  now  shall  they 
be  found  faulty. 

Numbers  of  the  Greenlanders,  who  for  a  time  ad¬ 
hered  to  the  Moravian  Missionaries,  and  promised  well, 
drew  back,  and  walked  no  more  with  them ;  while  the 
greater  part  of  those  who  were  wavering,  seduced  by 
the  concourse  of  their  heathen  countrymen,  again 
joined  the  multitude.  One  being  asked  why  he  could 
not  stay,  answered,  “I  have  bought  a  good  deal  of  pow¬ 
der  and  shot,  which  I  must  first  spend  in  the  south,  in 
shooting  rein-deer;”  another,  “I  must  first  have  my  fill 
of  bear’s  flesh and  a  third,  “  I  must  have  a  good  boat, 
and  then  I  will  believe.” 

xi.  7. — Though  they  called  them  to  the  Most 
High,  none  at  all  would  exalt  him. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  National  Fast  in  Eng¬ 
land,  some  of  the  parishioners  in  Timsbury,  near  Bath, 
when  going  to  the  parish  church,  met  a  young  man  of 
their  acquaintance,  but  a  leader  in  crime  among  his 
companions.  They  asked  him  to  accompany  them  to 
church.  “What  should  I  go  to  church  fori”  “O!” 
replied  they,  “ every  body  goes  to  church  to-day.”  “I 
sha’  nt  go  to  church  till  I  am  carried  there.”  On  the 
Friday  after,  he  was  employed  to  blow  up  the  root  of  a 
tree  with  gunpowder;  and  though,  after  having  com¬ 
municated  fire  to  the  fusee,  he  retired  to  an  unusually 
great  distance,  yet  when  the  explosion  took  place,  a 
shivered  splint  hit  him  on  the  forehead,  and  in  six 
hours  he  was  a  corpse.  The  effects  produced  in  the 
parish,  are  said  to  have  been  extensively  and  solemnly 
made  manifest  in  the  conversion  of  more  than  a  hun-. 
dred  of  the  most  dissolute  and  abandoned  of  the  inha¬ 
bitants,  who  have,  by  the  relinquishment  of  criminal 
practices,  and  a  devout  attendance  on  divine  ordi¬ 
nances,  evinced  the  sincerity  of  their  repentance. 

xii.  4. — He  had  power  over  the  angel,  and  pre¬ 
vailed  ;  he  wept  and  made  supplication  unto  him. 


216 


HOSEA  XIV. 


The  Rev.  Ralph  Erskine  was,  on  one  occasion,  re¬ 
quested  by  an  afflicted  friend  to  remember  him  in 
prayer.  From  the  urgency  of  other  affairs,  the  pious 
request,  for  a  time,  escaped  his  memory;  but  happen¬ 
ing  to  recollect  it  during  the  night,  he  rose  out  of  bed, 
and  prayed  with  great  fervour  in  behalf  of  that  indi¬ 
vidual.  Not  long  after,  he  had  the  happiness  to  receive 
information  of  his  recovery,  and  found,  that  at  the  very 
hour  in  which  he  had  wrestled  for  him  with  the  God  of 
Jacob,  the  sufferer  had  obtained  effectual  relief. 

xiii.  1. — When  Ephraim  spake  trembling,  he 
exalted  himself  in  Israel. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Erskine,  minister  of  Falkirk,  and 
son  of  the  Rev.  Ralph  Erskine,  during  his  last  illness, 
discovered  deep  abasement,  mingled  with  a  lively 
hope.  “The  prayer  of  the  publican,”  said  he,  “must 
be  my  prayer;  ‘God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner/ ” 
When  his  brother  James  at  one  time  made  this  pious 
remark,  “  We  all  need  to  settle  our  accounts  with  God 
betimes ;”  Henry  replied,  “  I  know  no  way,  dear  bro¬ 
ther,  of  settling  my  accounts,  but  by  receiving  a  free 
pardon  from  my  Redeemer.” 

xiv.  4. — I  will  heal  their  backsliding,  I  will  love 
them  freely :  for  mine  anger  is  turned  away  from 
him. 

It  is  said  of  a  Mr.  G.  that  he  lay  languishing  in  dis¬ 
tress  of  mind  for  five  years ;  during  which  he  took  no 
comfort  in  meat  or  drink,  nor  any  pleasure  in  life; 
being  under  a  sense  of  some  backsliding,  he  was  dis¬ 
tressed  as  if  he  had  been  in  the  deepest  pit  of  hell.  If 
he  ate  his  food,  it  was  not  from  any  appetite,  but  with 
a  view  to  defer  his  damnation,  thinking  within  himself 
that  he  must  needs  be  lost  so  soon  as  his  breath  was 
out  of  his  body.  Yet,  after  all  this,  he  was  set  at 
liberty,  received  great  consolation,  and  afterwards  lived 
altogether  a  heavenly  life.  Let  not  the  tempted  believ¬ 
er  then  despond,  nor  the  returning  backslider  fear  lest 
he  should  be  rejected. 


JOEL  III. 


217 


JOEL. 

Chap.  i.  6. — A  nation  is  come  up  upon  my  land, 
strong  and  without  number. 

In  the  year  1690,  a  cloud  of  locusts  was  seen  to 
enter  Russia  in  three  different  places,  and  from  thence 
to  spread  themselves  over  Poland  and  Lithuania  in 
such  astonishing  multitudes  that  the  air  was  darkened, 
and  the  earth  covered  with  their  numbers.  In  some 
places  they  were  seen  lying  dead,  heaped  upon  each 
other  four  feet  deep ;  in  others  they  covered  the  surface 
like  a  black  cloth  ;  the  trees  bent  beneath  their  weight, 
and  the  damage  which  the  country  sustained  exceeded 
computation. 

ii.  20. — I  will  remove  far  off  from  you  the  nor¬ 
thern  army,  and  will  drive  him  into  a  land  barren 
and  desolate  with  his  face  towards  the  east  sea  and 
his  hinder  part  toward  the  utmost  sea :  and  his 
stink  shall  come  up,  and  his  ill  savour. 

Baron  de  Tott,  speaking  of  the  locust,  says,  “I  have 
often  seen  the  shores  of  the  Pontus  Euxinus,  towards 
the  Bosphorus  of  Thrace,  covered  with  their  dried  re¬ 
mains  in  such  multitudes,  that  one  could  not  walk 
along  the  strand  without  sinking  half  leg  deep  into  a 
bed  of  these  skinny  skeletons.  Curious  to  know  the 
true  cause  of  their  destruction,  I  sought  the  moment  of 
observation,  and  was  a  witness  of  their  ruin  by  a 
storm,  which  overtook  them  so  near  the  shore  that  their 
bodies  were  cast  upon  the  land  while  yet  entire.  This 
produced  an  infection  so  great,  that  it  was  several  days 
before  they  could  be  approached.” 

iii.  3. — They  have — sold  a  girl  for  wine  that 
they  might  drink. 


19 


218 


AMOS  II, 


A  few  years  ago,  an  old  woman  in  London  went  into 
a  dram  shop  and  called  for  a  glass  of  gin,  which  she 
drank  off  as  soon  as  it  was  served  to  her.  She  then 
produced  a  Bible  from  under  her  apron,  saying  she  had 
no  money,  but  would  leave  that  in  pledge  and  redeem 
it  in  half  an  hour;  she  however  never  returned.  A 
woman  in  Glasgow,  some  time  since,  in  order  to  gratify 
her  immoderate  craving  for  ardent  spirits,  was  said  to 
have  offered  her  own  child  for  sale  as  a  subject  for 
dissection ! 


- c - 

AMOS. 

Chap.  i.  11. — He  did  cast  off  all  pity. 

“Bonaparte,”  says  Sir  Robert  Wilson,  “having  car¬ 
ried  the  town  of  Jaffa  by  assault,  many  of  the  garrison 
were  put  to  the  sword,  but  the  greater  part  flying  into 
the  Mosques,  and  imploring  mercy  from  their  pursuers, 
were  granted  their  lives.  Three  days  afterwards,  Bo¬ 
naparte,  who  had  expressed  much  resentment  at  the 
compassion  manifested  by  his  troops,  and  determined 
to  relieve  himself  from  the  maintenance  and  care  of 
3800  prisoners,  ordered  them  to  be  marched  to  a  rising 
ground  near  Jaffa,  where  a  division  of  French  infantry 
formed  against  them.  When  the  Turks  had  entered 
into  their  fatal  alignment,  and  the  mournful  prepara¬ 
tions  were  completed,  the  signal  gun  fired.  Volleys 
of  musquetry  and  grape  instantly  played  against  them, 
and  Bonaparte,  who  had  been  regarding  the  scene 
through  a  telescope,  when  he  saw  the  smoke  ascending, 
could  not  contain  his  joy.” 

ii.  12. — ‘Ye  gave  the  Nazarites  wine  to  drink. 

In  a  village  within  ten  miles  of  Elgin,  a  transaction 
occurred  which  it  is  impossible  to  condemn  in  suffi¬ 
ciently  strong  language.  A  man  called  on  a  publican 
in  this  village,  in  order  to  settle  an  account,  and  was 
asked  to  take  a  dram ;  this  was  declined  by  the  man 


AMOS  IV. 


219 


on  account  of  his  being  a  member  of  the  Temperance 
Society.  The  publican  first  began  to  ridicule  and  then 
to  tempt  him;  telling  him,  that  he  would  give  him  a 
real  good  one,  and  that,  besides,  a  given  dram  would 
never  be  objected  to.  The  simple  man  at  length  yield¬ 
ed  to  the  tempter,  and  having  yielded,  was  the  more 
ready  to  sink  before  other  even  less  powerful  temptations ; 
he  did  so,  and  is  no  longer  a  temperate  man,  or  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  a  Temperance  Society.  It  may  be  observed, 
that  the  mere  circumstance  of  being  a  member  of  the 
Temperance  Society,  will  not,  and  cannot  be  expected 
to  enable  a  man  to  resist  temptation,  otherwise  than  as 
a  lawful  means  under  God ;  unless,  therefore,  we  ask 
for  his  assistance,  our  best  resolutions  will  be  insuffi¬ 
cient  to  secure  our  safety.  The  atrocious  conduct  of 
this  publican  consisted  in  tempting  the  man,  after  he 
was  made  aware  of  his  conscientious  reasons  for  total 
abstinence.  If  his  unhappy  victim  die  the  death  of  the 
drunkard,  who  will  say,  he  is  guiltless  of  the  loss  of 
that  man’s  soul  1 

iii.  8. — The  lion  hath  roared,  who  will  not  fear  ? 

A  lion  having  escaped  from  the  menagerie  of  the 
great  Duke  of  Tuscany,  entered  Florence,  every  where 
spreading  terror.  Among  the  fugitives  was  a  woman 
with  a  child  in  her  arms,  which  she  let  fall.  He  seized, 
and  seemed  ready  to  devour  it,  when  the  mother,  trans¬ 
ported  with  the  tender  affections  of  nature,  ran  back, 
threw  herself  before  the  lion,  and  by  her  gestures  de¬ 
manded  the  child.  The  lion  looked  at  her  stedfastly, 
her  cries  and  tears  seemed  to  affect  him,  till  at  last  he 
laid  down  the  child  without  doing  it  the  least  injury. 


iv.  12. — Prepare  to  meet  thy  God,  O  Israel. 

The  late  Rev.  Mr.  Madan  was  educated  for  the  bar. 
His  conversion  arose  from  the  following  circumstance: 
— he  was  desired  one  evening,  by  some  of  his  compan¬ 
ions  who  were  with  him  at  a  coffee-house,  to  go  and 
hear  Mr.  John  Wesley,  who  they  were  told  was  to 
preach  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  to  return  and  exhibit 


220 


AMOS  VI. 


his  manners  and  discourse  for  their  entertainment. 
He  went  with  that  intention,  and  just  as  he  entered  the 
place,  Mr.  Wesley  named  as  his  text,  “Prepare  to  meet 
thy  God,”  with  a  solemnity  of  accent  which  struck  him, 
and  which  inspired  a  seriousness  that  increased  as  the 
good  man  proceeded  in  exhorting  his  hearers  to  repent¬ 
ance.  Mr.  M.  returned  to  the  coffee-room,  and  was 
asked  by  his  acquaintance,  “if  he  had  taken  off  the  old 
Methodist  1”  To  which  he  answered,  “  No,  gentlemen, 
but  he  has  taken  me  off:”  and  from  that  time  he  left 
their  company  altogether,  and  in  future  associated  with 
serious  people,  and  became  himself  a  serious  char¬ 
acter. 


v.  6. — Seek  the  Lord,  and  ye  shall  live. 

“I  must  never,”  says  the  late  Rev.  George  Burder, 
“forget  my  birth-day,  June  5th,  1762.  It  was  on  a  Sab¬ 
bath  ;  and  after  tea,  and  before  family  worship,  my  fa¬ 
ther  was  accustomed  to  catechize  me,  and  examine 
what  I  remembered  of  the  sermons  of  the  day.  That 
evening  he  talked  to  me  very  affectionately,  and  re¬ 
minded  me  that  I  was  now  ten  years  of  age  ;  that  it  was 
high  time  I  began  to  seek  the  Lord,  and  to  become  truly 
religious.  He  particularly  insisted  upon  the  necessity 
of  an  interest  in  Christ,  and  showed  me  that,  as  a  sin¬ 
ner,  I  must  perish  without  it,  and  recommended  me  to 
begin  that  night  to  pray  for  it.  After  family  worship, 
when  my  father  and  mother  used  to  retire  to  their 
closets  for  private  devotion,  I  also  went  into  a  chamber, 
the  same  room  in  which  I  was  born,  and  then  I  trust, 
sincerely  and  earnestly,  and  as  far  as  I  can  recollect, 
for  the  first  time,  I  poured  out  my  soul  to  God,  beseech¬ 
ing  him  to  give  me  an  interest  in  Christ,  and  desiring, 
above  all  things,  to  be  found  in  him.  Reflecting  on. 
this  evening,  I  have  often  been  ready  to  conclude,  that 
surely  I  was  born  of  God  at  that  time,  surely  Z  then  was 
brought  to  believe  in  Christ,  surely  there  was  something 
more  than  nature  in  all  this.” 

vi.  5,  6. — That  chant  to  the  sound  of  the  viol, 
and  invent  to  themselves  instruments  of  music, 


AMOS  VII. 


221 


like  David  ; — that  drink  wine  in  bowls,  and  anoint 
themselves  with  the  chief  ointments ;  but  they  are 
not  grieved  for  the  affliction  of  Joseph. 

The  tragical  scenes  which  came  under  Mr.  Fisk’s 
observation  while  in  Greece,  had  become  so  common, 
that  they  began  to  be  regarded  with  indifference  by 
many  classes  of  people.  Parties  of  pleasure  and  vain 
amusements  were  revived  and  engaged  in,  as  though 
all  were  peace.  Thousands  had  fled  for  their  lives, 
and  the  streets  of  Smyrna  were  crimsoned  with  Grecian 
blood.  It  was  estimated  that  2000  had  been  massacred, 
and  heavy  exactions  of  money  were  demanded  of  others 
for  the  privilege  of  living.  The  bodies  of  the  slain 
were  seen  frequently  floating  in  the  bay.  In  a  word, 
exactions,  imprisonment,  or  death,  met  the  defenceless 
Greeks  in  every  direction; — and  yet,  strange  to  tell, 
multitudes,  only  because  they  were  better  protected 
from  Turkish  violence,  went  thoughtlessly  to  the  as¬ 
sembly  room  and  the  dance,  as  though  all  were  peace 
and  security.  While  the  countenance  of  many  gather¬ 
ed  blackness  through  fear,  that  of  others  exhibited  only 
the  expression  of  a  thoughtless,  ill-timed  levity. 


vii.  10. — Amaziah,  the  priest  of  Beth-el,  sent  to 
Jeroboam  king  of  Israel,  saying,  Amos  hath  con¬ 
spired  against  thee  in  the  midst  of  the  house  of 
Israel ;  the  land  is  not  able  to  bear  all  his  words. 

Bishop  Latimer,  in  preaching  before  King  Henry  the 
Eighth,  spoke  his  mind  very  plainly ;  which  some  of 
his  enemies  thought  to  make  their  advantage  of,  by 
complaining  of  him  to  the  king,  that  they  might  thus 
get  him  out  of  the  way.  Soon  after  his  sermon,  he  and 
several  others  being  called  before  the  king  to  speak 
their  minds  on  certain  matters,  one  of  them  kneeled 
before  his  majesty,  and  accused  Latimer  of  having 
preached  seditious  doctrines.  The  king  turned  to  Lati¬ 
mer,  and  said,  “  What  say  you  to  that,  sirl”  Latimer 
kneeled  down,  and  turning  first  to  his  accuser,  said, 

19  * 


222 


AMOS  IX. 


“  What  form  of  preaching  would  you  appoint  me  to 
preach  before  a  king?  Would  you  have  me  to  preach 
nothing  concerning  a  king,  in  a  king’s  sermon?  Have 
you  any  commission  to  appoint  me  what  I  shall 
preach?”  He  asked  him  several  other  questions,  but 
he  would  answer  none  at  all;  nor  had  he  any  thing  to 
say.  Then  he  turned  to  the  king,  and  said,  “  I  never 
thought  myself  worthy,  nor  ever  sued,  to  be  preacher 
before  your  Grace.  But  I  was  called  to  it:  and  would 
be  willing,  if  you  mislike  me,  to  give  place  to  my 
betters.  But  if  your  Grace  allow  me  for  a  preacher,  I 
would  desire  your  Grace  to  discharge  my  conscience, 
give  me  leave  to  frame  my  discourse  according  to  mine 
audience.  I  had  been  a  very  dolt  to  have  preached  so 
at  the  borders  of  your  realm,  as  I  preach  before  your 
Grace.”  These  words  were  well  received  by  the  king 
as  Latimer  concluded,  because  the  king  presently  turn¬ 
ed  to  another  subject.  Some  of  his  friends  came  to 
him  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  and  told  him,  they  looked 
for  nothing  but  that  he  should  have  been  sent  to  the 
Tower  the  same  night. 

viii.  12. — They  shall  wander  from  sea  to  sea, 
and  from  the  north  even  to  the  east ;  they  shall 
run  to  and  fro  to  seek  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and 
shall  not  find  it 

Dr.  Henderson,  in  his  Journal,  says,  “In  the  east  of 
Iceland  I  fell  in  with  a  clergyman,  who  has  been  seek¬ 
ing  in  vain  to  obtain  a  Bible  for  the  long  period  of 
seventeen  years !  His  joy  on  my  arrival  was  inex¬ 
pressible.  I  passed  through  a  parish  lately,  in  which 
were  only  two  Bibles,  and  another  considerably  more 
populous,  in  which  are  none  at  all !” 

ix.  3. — Though  they  be  hid  from  my  sight  in 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  thence  will  I  command  the 
serpent,  and  he  shall  bite  them. 

In  the  year  1807,  a  stout  young  fisherman  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Calcutta,  in  the  East  Indies,  was  bit 


OBADIAH  I. 


223 


on  the  point  of  the  middle  finger  of  his  right  hand  by 
a  sea  snake,  which  had  been  entangled  in  his  net,  and 
considering  it  harmless,  he  threw  it  into  the  sea,  and 
thought  nothing  of  the  bite.  About  an  hour  afterwards, 
he  complained  of  a  slight  pain  in  the  bitten  finger, 
which  extended  along  the  inside  of  the  right  arm.  The 
pain  increased,  he  felt  giddiness,  attended  with  weak¬ 
ness  in  the  loins  and  legs,  which  was  followed  with  vi¬ 
olent  spasms,  and  early  in  the  morning  he  died  in  con¬ 
vulsions. 


- » — 

OBADIAH. 

Veb.  5. — If  thieves  come  to  thee,  if  robbers  by 
night,  would  they  not  have  stolen  till  they  had 
enough  ? 

At  an  assizes  held  at  York,  J.  Fourniss  and  G.  Wil¬ 
kinson  were  tried  for  a  burglary  in  the  house  of  George 
Holroyd,  a  clothier,  at  Hartshead.  These  villains  hav¬ 
ing  entered  the  house,  came  to  the  bed-side  of  Holroyd, 
about  one  in  the  morning,  demanding  his  money,  and 
repeatedly  threatening  to  kill  him  if  he  refused  to  dis¬ 
cover  it.  It  happened  that  Holroyd  had  only  a  single 
sixpence  in  the  house,  as  he  solemnly  assured  them; 
but  not  believing  him,  they  persevered  in  the  threaten¬ 
ing  to  kill  him,  with  a  case-knife,  which  Fourniss  held 
in  his  hand.  Holroyd  then  begged  they  would  suffer 
him  to  pray  before  he  died.  Wilkinson  consented,  say¬ 
ing,  “  Let  him  pray.”  He  did  so  for  a  few  minutes ; 
after  which  Wilkinson  seemed  to  relent;  for  when  the 
other  said,  “  He  will  not  show  us  where  his  money  is ; 
we  must  kill  him  !”  Wilkinson  said,  “No;  we  will  not 
kill  him.” — Soon  after  which  both  left  the  house,  taking 
with  them  some  bacon,  butter,  and  eggs.  The  jury 
found  the  prisoners  guilty;  but  recommended  Wilkin¬ 
son  to  mercy,  on  account  of  the  compassion  he  dis¬ 
covered. — Such  was  the  good  effect  of  prayer  even 
upon  a  thief! 


224 


JONAH  I. 


JONAH. 

Chap.  i.  5,  6. — Jonah  was  gone  down  into  the 
sides  of  the  ship ;  and  he  lay,  and  was  fast  asleep. 
So  the  ship-master  came  to  him,  and  said  unto  him, 
What  meanest  thou,  0  sleeper  ?  arise,  call  upon 
thy  God. 

Two  or  three  miles  above  the  falls  of  Niagara,  an 
Indian  canoe  was  one  day  observed  floating  quietly 
along,  with  its  paddle  upon  its  side.  At  first  it  was 
supposed  to  be  empty;  no  one  could  imagine  that  a 
man  would  expose  himself  to  such  well  known  and  im¬ 
minent  danger.  But  a  turn  in  the  current  soon  gave 
the  travellers  a  sight  of  an  Indian  lying  idly  asleep  at 
the  bottom.  They  were  shocked,  and  called  aloud,  but 
he  did  not  hear;  they  shouted  in  an  agony  of  pity  and 
alarm ;  but  he  was  deaf  to  their  saving  cry.  It  chanced 
that  the  current,  which  was  now  hurrying  along  with 
increased  speed  as  it  neared  the  fatal  precipice,  drove 
the  little  boat  against  a  point  of  rock  with  such  vio¬ 
lence,  that  it  was  whirled  round  and  round  several 
times.  He ’s  safe  !  He ’s  safe !  cried  the  spectators,  joy¬ 
fully;  the  man  is  safe;  that  shock  must  wake  him. 
But,  alas!  no.  Fatigue,  or  drunkenness,  (to  which  sa¬ 
vages  are  particularly  addicted)  had  so  oppressed  his 
senses,  that  it  seemed  more  like  death  than  sleep  which 
held  him;  it  was  indeed  the  sleep  of  death.  All  hope 
was  gone,  and  they  hurried  along  the  shore  in  alarm  to 
see  the  end.  It  soon  came,  for  the  torrent  was  now 
rolling  so  rapidly,  that  they  could  scarcely  keep  pace 
with  the  object  of  their  interest.  At  length  the  roar  of 
the  water,  which  had  been  hitherto  almost  buried  within 
the  high  banks  below,  by  a  sudden  change  of  the  wind 
broke  upon  them  with  double  violence.  This  dreadful 
noise,  with  which  the  Indian  ear  was  so  familiar,  did  at 
last  arouse  him.  He  was  seen  to  start  up  and  snatch 


JONAH  III. 


225 


his  paddle.  But  it  was  too  late ;  the  same  dunning 
sound  which  had  roused  him  from  insensibility,  told 
him  at  the  same  time,  that  it  was  in  vain  to  seek  for 
safety  now  by  rowing;  nor,  indeed,  had  he  time  to  try; 
upright  as  he  stood,  he  went  over  the  awful  precipice, 
and  the  boat  and  its  occupant  were  seen  no  more. 

ii.  5. — The  waters  compassed  me  about,  even 
to  the  soul :  the  depth  closed  me  round  about. 

“  I  once,”  says  Dr.  Currie  of  Liverpool,  “  heard — for 
it  was  night,  and  I  could  not  see — a  traveller  drowning, 
not  in  the  Annan,  but  in  the  Firth  of  Solway,  close  by 
the  mouth  of  that  river.  The  influx  of  the  tide  had  un¬ 
horsed  him  in  the  night  as  he  was  passing  the  sands 
from  Cumberland.  The  west  wind  blew  a  tempest; 
and,  according  to  the  common  expression,  brought  in 
the  water  three  feet  abreast.  The  traveller  got  upon  a 
standing  net  a  little  way  from  the  shore.  There  he 
lashed  himself  to  the  post,  shouting  for  half  an  hour 
for  assistance,  till  the  tide  rose  over  his  head !  In  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  and  amidst  the  pauses  of  the 
hurricane,  his  voice,  heard  at  intervals,  was  exquisitely 
mournful.  No  one  could  go  to  his  assistance — no  one 
knew  where  he  was — the  sound  seemed  to  proceed  from 
the  spirit  of  the  waters.  But  morning  rose — the  tide 
had  ebbed — and  the  poor  traveller  was  found  lashed  to 
the  pole  of  the  net,  and  bleaching  to  the  wind.” 

iii.  2. — Preach  unto  Nineveh  the  preaching 
that  I  bid  thee. 

A  celebrated  preacher,  now  deceased,  in  a  charge 
which  he  delivered  to  a  young  minister  at  his  ordina¬ 
tion,  thus  addressed  him: — “Let  me  remind  you,  sir, 
that  when  you  come  into  this  place,  and  address  this 
people,  you  are  not  to  bring  your  little  self  with  you. 
I  repeat  this  again,  sir,  that  it  may  more  deeply  impress 
your  memory:  I  say,  that  you  are  never  to  bring  your 
little  self  with  you.  No,  sir,  when  you  stand  in  this 
sacred  place,  it  is  your  duty  to  hold  up  your  Great  Mas¬ 
ter  to  your  people,  in  his  character,  in  his  offices,  in 


226 


MICAH  I. 


his  precepts,  in  his  promises,  and  in  his  glory.  This 
picture  you  are  to  hold  up  to  the  view  of  your  hearers, 
while  you  are  to  stand  behind  it,  and  not  let  so  much 
as  your  little  finger  be  seen.” 

iv.  9. — I  do  well  to  be  angry,  even  unto  death. 

“  I  was  lately  taking  a  journey  from  home,”  says  one, 
“  and  happened  one  day  to  be  drinking  tea  with  a  cler¬ 
gyman,  who  said*that  he  had  just  had  a  very  awful 
death  in  his  parish.  I  thought  it  was  some  drunkard, 
or  swearer,  or  Sabbath-breaker,  who  had  perhaps  been 
cut  off  in  his  sins ;  and  I  never  for  a  moment  supposed 
that  it  could  be  a  little  child.  But  how  was  I  shocked 
when  he  told  me  the  story!  A  very  little  child,  about 
three  years  old,  had  its  naughty  will  crossed  by  its  mo¬ 
ther,  and  flew  into  a  violent  passion.  She  screamed 
and  cried,  and  stamped  with  her  feet  on  the  ground,  and 
was  like  a  mad  creature  with  rage.  And  oh !  (dread¬ 
ful  to  relate)  it  pleased  God  to  strike  her  dead  in  the 
midst  of  her  passion.  Whether  she  broke  a  blood-ves¬ 
sel  with  her  rage,  or  how  it  was,  I  do  not  know;  but 
she  died  in  the  midst  of  her  sins,  and  is  gone  to  the 
world  of  spirits.” 


— i - 

MICAH. 

Chap.  i.  8. — I  will  wail  and  howl ; — I  will  make 
a  wailing  like  the  dragons,  and  mourning  as  the 
owls. 

“While  I  was  at  Saphetta,”  (in  Galilee,)  says  Bid- 
dulph,  the  chaplain  to  the  English  factory  at  Aleppo,  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  “  many  Turks  departed 
from  thence  towards  Mecca  in  Arabia.  And  the  same 
morning  they  went,  we  saw  many  women  playing  with 
timbrels  as  they  went  along  the  streets,  who  made  a 
yelling,  or  shrieking  noise,  as  if  they  cried.  We  asked 
what  they  meant  in  so  doing  I  It  was  answered  us, 


JIICAH  III. 


227 


that  they  mourned  for  the  departure  of  their  husbands, 
who  were  gone  that  morning  on  pilgrimage  to  Mecca; 
and  they  feared  that  they  should  never  see  them  again, 
because  it  was  a  long  way  and  dangerous,  and  many 
died  there  every  year.  It  seemed  strange  to  us,  that 
they  should  mourn  with  music  about  the  streets ;  for 
music  is  used  in  other  places  at  times  of  mirth,  and  not 
at  times  of  mourning.” 

ii.  11. — I  will  prophesy  unto  thee  of  wine  and 
of  strong  drink. 

The  following  is  Sir  Astley  Cooper’s  opinion  of  dram¬ 
drinking,  in  answer  to  an  application  by  the  secretary 
of  the  Temperance  Society,  for  his  support  and  pa¬ 
tronage. 

“My  dear  Sir, — No  person  has  greater  hostility  to 
dram-drinking  than  myself,  insomuch  that  I  never 
suffer  any  ardent  spirits  in  my  house,  thinking  them 
Evil  Spirits.  And  if  the  poor  could  witness  the  white 
livers,  the  dropsies,  and  the  shattered  nervous  systems 
which  I  have  seen,  as  the  consequence  of  drinking, 
they  would  be  aware  that  Spirits  and  Poisons  were  sy¬ 
nonymous  terms.  But  still  I  think  the  scheme  so  Uto¬ 
pian,  that  I  cannot  annex  my  name  to  it ;  for  I  could  as 
soon  believe  that  I  could,  by  my  own  efforts,  stop  the 
cataract  of  Niagara,  as  prevent  the  poor  of  London 
from  destroying  themselves  by  intemperance.” 

iii.  8. — Truly  I  am  full  of  power  by  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord,  and  of  judgment,  and  of  might,  to 
declare  unto  Jacob  his  transgression,  and  to  Israel 
his  sin. 

The  biographer  of  Mr.  Legh  Richmond  one  day  sub¬ 
mitted  to  him  the  following  question : — “  What  is  the 
scriptural  and  right  way  to  preach  to  the  Jews  1” — “  I 
know  of  no  scriptural  way,”  he  replied,  “  of  preaching 
to  men,  otherwise  than  as  sinners;  and  why  the  Jews, 
whose  sins  are  of  so  aggravated  a  nature,  should  be 
dealt  with  in  a  different  way,  I  do  not  see.  I  would  ad- 


228 


MICAH  IV. 


dress  the  Jew  as  I  would  address  any  other  man ; — that 
is,  as  a  sinner;  and  till  he  is  convinced  of  his  sin,  he 
will  never  believe  in  a  Saviour.  ‘  Christ  crucified,’  is 
declared  to  be  ‘to  the  Greeks  foolishness,  and  to  the 
Jews  a  stumbling-block;  but  to  them  that  believe,  the 
power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God.’  No  man  will 
ever  feel  the  power  of  God,  whether  he  be  Jew  or  Gen¬ 
tile,  till  he  learns  it  at  the  foot  of  the  cross.” 


iv.  3. — They  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plough¬ 
shares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks  ;  nation 
shall  not  lift  up  a  sword  against  nation,  neither 
shall  they  learn  war  any  more. 

“  I  have  been  labouring,”  says  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ellis,  in 
a  speech  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Naval  and  Military 
Bible  Society,  “among  a  people  who  once  delighted  in 
war,  but  since  Christianity  has  prevailed,  there  war  has 
ceased  altogether ;  and  they  are  astonished  how  they 
ever  engaged  in  all  those  deeds  of  savage  cruelty, 
which,  according  to  their  usual  practice,  threatened  the 
extermination  of  their  race;  but  now  the  Prince  of 
Peace  reigns  there.  I  have  seen  the  musket  barrel  ta¬ 
ken  from  the  stock  and  carried  to  the  anvil,  and  beaten 
into  a  spade  or  a  hoe,  though  not  into  a  ploughshare, 
for  the  plough  does  not  yet  turn  up  their  fruitful  soil ; 
and  the  warrior  who  has  used  it  in  battle,  now  employs 
it  in  cultivating  the  land.  They  have  even  gone  further 
in  illustration  of  this  beautiful  description  of  the  pro¬ 
phet,  for  they  have  devoted  the  implements  of  war  to 
the  service  of  the  sanctuary !  The  last  Sabbath  I  was 
there,  I  went  into  one  of  their  chapels,  and  ministered 
to  a  large  congregation  of  about  fifteen  hundred  per¬ 
sons.  A  rude  sort  of  pulpit  was  erected,  and  stairs  led 
up  to  it,  the  railings  of  which,  smooth  and  polished, 
were  literally  composed  of  the  handles  of  warriors’ 
spears,  who  had  thus  transferred  their  weapons  with 
themselves  to  a  nobler  and  better  purpose — the  service 
of  the  sanctuary  of  God !” 


MICAH  VI. 


229 


v.  12.— I  will  cut  off  witchcrafts  out  of  thine 
hand ;  and  thou  shaft  have  no  more  soothsayers. 

On  two  estates  in  the  Island  of  Lequan,  in  the  West 
Indies,  the  plan  of  appointing  catechists  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  reading  the  Scriptures  to  the  negroes  at  weekly 
meetings,  has  been  adopted,  and  the  benefit  resulting 
from  it  on  one  of  them,  is  thus  described  by  a  corres¬ 
pondent: — “A  manager  of  these  estates  informed  me, 
that  the  negroes  do  three  times  the  work  they  formerly 
did,  and  are  quite  cheerful  and  happy.  I  was  first  re¬ 
quested  to  visit  this  estate  by  the  proprietor,  on  account 
of  the  prevalence  of  Obiah  or  Witchcraft,  which  ren¬ 
dered  the  negroes  wretched,  and  had  been  the  death  of 
some,  from  its  miserable  influence  upon  their  minds. 
But  the  truths  of  the  Bible  banished  this  from  the  estate  ; 
and  I  will  venture  to  say,  that  while  the  Bible  remains 
in  their  hands,  and  the  love  of  it  in  their  hearts,  no 
Obiah  will  be  found  among  them.” 

vi.  6. — Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the 
Lord,  and  bow  myself  before  the  high  God? 

Mr.  W - ,  a  respectable  Calvinistic.  minister,  hav¬ 

ing  been  visited  by  a  young  candidate  for  the  ministry, 
one  Sabbath  day,  invited  him  to  preach.  The  young 
gentleman  consented,  and  delivered  an  ingenious  Ar- 
minian  sermon,  though  his  prayer  was  very  Calvinistic. 

When  the  service  was  over,  Mr.  W -  thanked  him 

for  his  kindness,  praised  him  for  his  ingenuity,  but  told 
him,  that,  as  they  did  not  agree  in  sentiment,  he  could 
not  invite  him  to  preach  again;  but,  continued  he,  “I 
have  a  favour  to  ask  of  you :  when  you  go  home,  will 
you  sit  down  and  write  a  prayer,  to  agree  with  the  sen¬ 
timents  you  have  this  day  been  preaching  1 — will  you 
commit  it  to  memory,  go  into  your  closet,  and  repeat  it 
to  God?”  The  young  man  promised  to  do  it.  Accord¬ 
ingly,  when  he  went  home,  he  wrote  the  prayer,  com¬ 
mitted  it  to  memory,  went  into  his  closet,  and  attempted 
to  repeat  it;  but  found,  through  the  power  of  con¬ 
science,  that  he  could  not. — A  few  years  afterwards,  he 

called  on  Mr.  W - ,  who  soon  recollected  him,  and 

20 


230 


MICAH  VII. 


received  him  very  cordially.  The  young  gentleman 

offered  to  preach  for  him,  and  Mr.  W - ,  with  some 

reluctance,  consenting,  he  went  into  the  pulpit,  and,  to 

the  surprise  of  Mr.  W - ,  delivered  a  sound,  sensible, 

Calvimstic  sermon.  The  preacher  being  asked  why 
he  had  altered  his  sentiments,  he  related  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  Mr.  W - ’s  request,  and  added,  that,  being 

greatly  agitated,  as  well  as  surprised,  he  had  carefully 
examined  his  sentiments,  and  reasoned  thus  with  him¬ 
self: — “  Can  it  be  proper  for  me  to  preach  to  a  congre¬ 
gation  what  I  cannot  offer  up  in  prayer  to  God?” 

vii.  10. — Then  she  that  is  mine  enemy  shall  see 
it,  and  shame  shall  cover  her  which  said  unto  me, 
Where  is  the  Lord  thy  God  ?  mine  eyes  shall  be¬ 
hold  her :  now  shall  she  be  trodden  down  as  the 
mire  of  the  streets. 

When  Dr.  Dodd,  who  suffered  for  forgery  in  1777, 
was  led  to  the  place  of  execution,  several  of  the  popu¬ 
lace  seemed  to  exult  at  the  condemnation  of  a  dignified 
ecclesiastic ;  and  a  woman  reproachfully  called  out  to 
him,  “  Where  is  now  thy  God?”  He  instantly  referred 
her  to  the  seventh  chapter  of  Micah,  7 — 10.  “Therefore 
I  will  look  unto  the  Lord ;  I  will  wait  for  the  God  of  my 
Salvation:  my  God  will  hear  me.  Rejoice  not  against 
me,  O  mine  enemy:  when  I  fall,  I  shall  arise ;  when  I 
sit  in  darkness,  the  Lord  shall  be  a  light  unto  me.  I 
will  bear  the  indignation  of  the  Lord,  because  I  have 
sinned  against  him,  until  he  plead  my  cause,  and  exe¬ 
cute  judgment  for  me;  he  will  bring  me  forth  to  the 
light,  and  I  shall  behold  his  righteousness.  Then  she 
that  is  mine  enemy  shall  see  it,  and  shame  shall  cover 
her  which  said  unto  me,  Where  is  the  Lord  thy  God? 
mine  eyes  shall  behold  her:  now  shall  she  be  trodden 
down  as  the  mire  of  the  streets.”  The  wretched  wo¬ 
man,  proceeding  to  witness  the  execution,  was  thrown 
down  in  the  pressure  of  the  throng,  and  literally  trod¬ 
den  to  death ! 


NAHUM  III. 


231 


NAHUM. 

Chap.  i.  10. — While  they  are  drunken  as  drunk¬ 
ards,  they  shall  be  devoured  as  stubble  fully  dry. 

Three  Warsaw  butchers  went  to  a  tippling-house, 
abandoned  themselves  to  every  sort  of  excess,  and 
drank  till  they  were  so  intoxicated  that  they  were  car¬ 
ried  home  senseless.  A  few  hours  had  scarcely  elapsed, 
when  the  miserable  men  were  seized  with  all  the  symp¬ 
toms  of  cholera,  which  advanced  with  such  rapidity, 
as  to  prove  fatal  to  the  whole  three  within  four  hours. 

ii.  11. — Where  is  the  dwelling  of  the  lions,  and 
the  feeding  of  the  young  lions  1 , 

In  the  beginning  of  March  1810,  five  horsemen,  sta¬ 
tioned  at  a  village  near  Hansi,  having  heard  that  a  pig 
had  been  carried  away  by  a  tiger,  went  to  the  spot  on 
foot,  when  they  found  a  lion  and  lioness  feeding  upon 
it.  The  latter,  on  the  patch  of  grass  being  set  on  fire, 
went  off ;  but  the  former  advanced  slowly,  with  his 
mane  and  tail  erect;  when  the  men  fired  with  so  good 
an  effect,  as  induced  them  to  go  up  and  destroy  him 
with  their  swords,  which  was  accomplished  after  one 
man  had  been  severely  wounded.  The  animal  ap¬ 
peared  to  be  a  full  grown  lion,  in  most  respects  like  the 
African  one.  A  lioness,  a  few  days  previous,  had 
been  sent  in  from  Hissan,  having  been  killed  by  a 
party  of  horsemen.  These  facts  prove,  contrary  to  the 
general  opinion,  that  lions  are  to  be  found  in  India  as 
well  as  Africa. 

iii.  3. — The  horseman  lifteth  up  the  bright 
sword  and  the  glittering  spear :  and  there  is  a 
multitude  of  slain 

As  Napoleon  Bonaparte  once  passed  over  a  field  of 


232 


HABAKKUK  II. 


battle  in  Italy,  with  some  of  his  generals,  he  saw  a 
houseless  dog  lying  on  the  slain  body  of  his  master. 
The  creature  came  towards  them,  then  returned  to  the 
dead  body,  moaned  over  it  pitifully,  and  seemed  to  ask 
their  assistance.  “  Whether  it  were  the  feeling  of  the 
moment,”  continued  Napoleon,  “  the  scene,  the  hour,  or 
the  circumstance  itself,  I  was  never  so  deeply  affected 
by  any  thing  which  I  have  seen  upon  a  field  of  battle. 
That  man,  I  thought,  has,  perhaps,  had  a  house,  friends, 
comrades,  and  here  lies  deserted  by  every  one  but  his 
dog !  How  mysterious  are  the  impressions  to  which 
we  are  subject.  I  was  in  the  habit,  without  emotion, 
of  ordering  battles,  which  must  decide  the  fate  of  a 
campaign,  and  could  look  with  a  dry  eye  on  the  exe¬ 
cution  of  manoeuvres,  which  must  be  attended  with 
much  loss ;  and  here  I  was  moved — nay,  painfully  af¬ 
fected — by  the  cries  and  the  grief  of  a  dog.  It  is  cer¬ 
tain,  that  at  that  moment,  I  should  have  been  more  ac¬ 
cessible  to  a  suppliant  enemy,  and  could  better  under¬ 
stand  the  conduct  of  Achilles,  in  restoring  the  body  of 
Hector  to  the  tears  of  Priam.” 


• — « - 

HABAKKUK. 

Chap.  i.  16. — They  sacrifice  unto  their  net,  and 
bum  incense  unto  their  drag. 

A  blacksmith,  who  had  been  employed  one  day  on 
the  Mission  premises  in  India,  fetched  away  his  tools 
next  morning  for  the  purpose  of  worshipping  them,  it 
being  the  day  on  which  the  Hindoos  pay  divine  honours 
to  the  implements  of  their  various  trades  :  the  files  and 
hammers  of  the  smiths,  the  chisels  and  saws  of  the 
carpenter,  the  diamond  of  the  glazier,  the  crucible  of 
the  goldsmith,  &c.  &c.,  all  become  idols  on  this  anni¬ 
versary. 

ii.  4. — The  just  shall  live  by  his  faith. 


HABAKKUK  III. 


233 


Two  men  of  learning  were  conversing  with  each 
other  respecting  the  method  they  should  take  in  refer¬ 
ence  to  a  certain  regulation  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
higher  powers,  and  to  which  they  had  conscientious 
scruples.  One  of  them  impiously  swore,  “  By  my  faith 
I  shall  live.”  The  other  calmly  and  pleasantly  replied, 
“  I  hope  to  live  by  my  faith  too,  though  I  do  not  swear 
by  it.”  The  result  was,  that  the  man  who  resolved  by 
grace  to  venture  his  temporal  interest  for  conscience’ 
sake,  lived  in  prosperity  to  see  the  other  begging,  and 
to  contribute  to  his  relief. 

iii.  17,  18. — Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not 
blossom,  neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines ;  the 
labour  of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the  fields  shall 
yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the 
fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls,  yet 
I  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  I  will  joy  in  the  God  of 
my  salvation. 

Two  religious  persons  lived  in  one  place,  who  had 
been  intimately  acquainted  in  early  life.  Providence 
favoured  one  of  them  with  a  tide  of  prosperity.  The 
other,  fearing  for  his  friend,  lest  his  heart  should  be 
overcharged  with  the  cares  of  this  life,  and  the  deceit¬ 
fulness  of  riches,  one  day  asked  him  whether  he  did  not 
find  prosperity  a  snare  to  him.  He  paused,  and  an¬ 
swered,  “I  am  not  conscious  that  I  do,  for  I  enjoy  God 
in  all  things.”  Some  years  after,  his  affairs  took  ano¬ 
ther  turn.  He  lost,  if  not  the  whole,  yet  the  far  greater 
part  of  what  he  had  once  gained,  and  was  greatly  reduced. 
His  old  friend  being  one  day  in  his  company,  renewed 
his  question,  whether  he  did  not  find  what  had  lately 
befallen  him  to  be  too  much  for  him.  Again  he  paused, 
and  answered,  “I  am  not  conscious  that  I  do,  for  now  I 
enjoy  all  things  in  God.” 


20* 


234 


ZEPHANIAH  III. 


ZEPHANIAH. 

Chap.  i.  6. — Those  that  have  not  sought  the 

Lord,  nor  enquired  for  him. 

One  evening,  a  lady  and  her  little  daughter  attended 
a  religious  meeting,  and  while  the  minister  was  speak¬ 
ing  of  the  neglect  of  family  duties,  of  reading  the 
Scriptures,  and  of  family  prayer,  the  little  daughter,  who 
listened  attentively,  and  perceived  that  the  preacher 
was  describing  a  neglect  that  she  had  witnessed  herself, 

whispered  to  her  mother  this  question — “Ma,  is  Mr. - 

talking  to  you!”  This  was  powerful  preaching  to  the 
mother;  she  was  immediately  brought  under  deep  con¬ 
victions,  which  resulted  in  her  hopeful  conversion. 

ii.  14. — Their  voice  shall  sing  in  the  windows. 

“  I  found  also  in  this  place,”  says  Le  Bruyn,  in  de¬ 
scribing  the  ruins  of  Persepolis,  “  besides  the  birds  I 
have  already  mentioned,  four  or  five  sorts  of  small 
birds,  which  keep  constantly  in  these  ruins  and  the  ad¬ 
joining  mountain,  and  which  make  the  most  agreeable 
warbling  in  the  world.  The  singing  of  the  largest  ap¬ 
proaches  very  near  to  that  of  the  nightingale.  Some 
of  them  are  almost  all  black ;  others  have  the  head  and 
body  spotted,  of  the  size  of  a  swallow ;  others  are 
smaller,  and  of  different  colours,  yellowish,  grey,  and 
quite  white,  shaped  like  a  chaffinch.” 

iii.  12. — I  will  also  leave  in  the  midst  of  thee 
an  afflicted  and  poor  people,  and  they  shall  trust 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

The  Rev.  Oliver  Heywood’s  pecuniary  circumstances 
were  sometimes  very  trying,  but  the  special  interposi¬ 
tions  of  Providence  were  not  less  remarkable.  “  While 
I  was  musing,”  says  he,  “  and  pondering  how  to  get  my 


HAGGAI  I. 


235 


rent  discharged,  and  had  no  way,  at  this  time,  but  to 
borrow  it,  there  came  a  dear  friend  to  me,  and  brought 
me  five  pounds,  which  did  furnish  me  with  an  overplus 
besides  my  rent.  It  was  a  seasonable  present,  sent  to 
me  by  a  liberal  hand;  yet  I  own  God  chiefly  in  it,  who 
cares  for  me,  as  in  this,  and  several  other  experiences, 
is  evident.  O  what  a  sweet  thing  is  the  life  of  faith ! 
That  is  a  perfumed  gift,  which  thus  comes  from  God  as 
a  token  of  love,  after  the  actings  of  faith  in  prayer. 
How  good  is  God  to  me !  I  live  nobly,  and  am  so  far 
from  wanting,  that  I  have  all  and  abound ;  and  where 
supplies  fail  one  way,  God  makes  them  up  another.” 


— ♦ - 

HAGGAI. 

Chap.  i.  9. — Ye  looked  for  much,  and  lo,  it  came 
to  little ;  and  when  ye  brought  it  home,  I  did 
blow  upon  it.  Why  1  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  Be¬ 
cause  of  mine  house  that  is  waste,  and  ye  run 
every  man  unto  his  own  house. 

Some  years  ago,  a  poor  boy  came  to  town  in  search 
of  a  situation  as  errand  boy ;  he  made  many  unsuc¬ 
cessful  applications,  and  was  on  the  eve  of  returning 
to  his  parents,  when  a  gentleman,  being  prepossessed 
by  his  appearance,  took  him  into  his  employment,  and 
after  a  few  months,  bound  him  apprentice.  He  so  con¬ 
ducted  himself  during  his  apprenticeship,  as  to  gain  the 
love  and  esteem  of  every  one  who  knew  him;  and 
after  he  had  served  his  time,  his  master  advanced  a 
capital  for  him  to  commence  business.  He  retired  to 
his  closet  with  a  heart  glowing  with  gratitude  to  his 
Maker  for  his  goodness,  and  then  solemnly  vowed  that 
he  would  devote  a  tenth  part  of  his  annual  income  to 
the  service  of  God.  The  first  year  his  donation 
amounted  to  ten  pounds,  which  he  gave  cheerfully,  and 
continued  to  do  so  till  it  amounted  to  £500 ;  he  then 
thought  that  was  a  great  deal  of  money  to  give,  and 


236 


HAGGAI  II. 


that  he  need  not  be  so  particular  as  to  the  exact  amount. 
That  year  he  lost  a  ship  and  cargo  to  the  value  of 
£15,000  by  a  storm!  This  caused  him  to  repent,  and 
he  again  commenced  his  contributions,  with  a  resolu¬ 
tion  never  to  retract:  he  was  more  successful  every 
year,  and  at  length  retired.  He  then  devoted  a  tenth 
part  of  his  annual  income  for  some  years,  till  he  be¬ 
came  acquainted  with  men  of  the  world,  who  by  de¬ 
grees  drew  him  aside  from  God:  he  discontinued  his 
donations,  made  large  speculations,  lost  every  thing, 
and  became  almost  as  poor  as  when  he  came  to  town 
as  an  errand  boy ! 

ii.  18,  19. — From  the  day  that  the  foundation 
of  the  Lord’s  temple  was  laid,  consider  it — from 
this  day  will  I  bless  you. 

“Some  years  ago,”  says  one,  “I  recollect  reading  a 
striking  sermon  by  the  late  Mr.  Simpson  of  Maccles¬ 
field;  the  subject,  I  think,  was  Christian  liberality; 
but  what  most  forcibly  struck  my  mind,  was^a  passage 
quoted  from  Malachi  iii.  10.  ‘Bring  ye  all  the  tithes 
into  the  store-house,’  &c.  I  cannot  describe  how  my 
mind  was  impressed  with  the  manner  in  which  Jeho¬ 
vah  here  condescended  to  challenge  his  people,  when 
he  says,  ‘And  prove  me  now  herewith,’  &c.  Suffice  it 
to  say,  that  the  subject  made  such  an  impression,  I 
found  it  my  duty  to  do  more  for  the  cause  of  God  than 
I  ever  had  done.  I  did  so,  and  on  closing  that  year’s 
accounts,  I  found  that  I  had  gained  more  than  in  any 
two  years  preceding  it.  Some  time  afterwards,  I  thought 
the  Redeemer’s  cause  had  an  additional  claim,  as  the 
place  in  which  we  worshipped  him  wanted  some  re¬ 
pairs.  The  sum  I  then  gave  was  £20;  and  in  a  very 
little  time  afterwards  I  received  £40,  which  I  had  long 
given  up  as  lost.” 


ZECHARIAH  II. 


237 


ZECHAEIAH. 

Chap.  i.  5. — Your  fathers,  where  are  they  ?  and 
the  prophets,  do  they  live  for  ever  7 

“We  need  no  reed,”  says  Mr.  Matthew  Henry,  “no 
pole,  no  measuring  line,  wherewith  to  take  the  dimen¬ 
sions  of  our  days,  nor  any  skill  in  arithmetic,  where¬ 
with  to  compute  the  number  of  them.  No ;  we  have 
the  standard  of  them  at  our  fingers’  ends;  and  there  is 
no  multiplication  of  it;  it  is  but  one  hand-breadth  in 
all.” 

ii.  11. — Many  nations  shall  be  joined  to  the 
Lord  in  that  day,  and  shall  be  my  people. 

“In  the  year  1813,”  says  Mr.  Campbell,  “after  hav¬ 
ing  visited  several  nations  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  be¬ 
yond  the  colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  when  re¬ 
turning,  I  halted  at  the  town  of  Paarl,  within  thirty-six 
miles  of  Cape  Town ;  here  I  was  requested  by  friends 
to  relate  publicly  the  state  of  the  nations  in  the  interior 
of  Africa.  About  one  hundred  free  persons,  with  some 
slaves,  attended.  At  the  close,  several  hundred  rix- 
dollars  were  contributed  by  the  white  friends  present 
for  the  Missionary  Society.  After  t'he  whites  had  all 
left  the  house,  a  slave  woman  and  her  daughter  called 
upon  me,  and  said,  ‘  Sir,  will  you  take  any  thing  from 
a  poor  slave,  to  help  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  poor 
things  beyond  usT  On  my  saying,  ‘  Most  certainly  I 
will,’  she  gave  me  eightpence,  and  her  daughter  four- 
pence.  Having  done  so,  they  hastily  went  out  clapping 
their  hands,  and  ran  to  some  slave  men  who  were 
waiting  to  hear  the  result.  On  hearing  from  her  that  I 
cheerfully  took  subscriptions  from  slaves,  they  rushed 
into  my  room,  and  every  one  threw  down  all  that  they 
had,  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  poor  things  beyond 
them !” 


233 


ZECHAEIAH  V. 


iii.  10. — Ye  shall  call  every  man  his  neighbour 
under  the  vine,  and  under  the  fig-tree. 

Dr.  Richard  Chandler,  in  his  Travels  in  Asia  Minor, 
informs  us,  “  that  a  Greek  at  Philadelphia  sent  them  a 
small  earthen  vessel  full  of  choice  wine ;  and  that  some 
families,  who  were  sitting  beneath  some  trees,  by  a  rill 
of  water,  invited  them  to  alight  and  partake  of  their  re¬ 
freshments.  The  taking  their  repasts  thus  in  public  • 
expressed  safety  and  pleasure;  and  the  calling  to  pass¬ 
engers  to  partake  with  them,  a  spirit  of  friendliness  and 
generosity.” 

iv.  6. — Not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  my 
Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 

“  I  am  by  birth,”  said  a  converted  Hindoo,  when  ad¬ 
dressing  a  number  of  his  countrymen,  “of  an  insignifi¬ 
cant  and  contemptible  caste ;  so  low,  that  if  a  Brahmin 
should  chance  to  touch  me,  he  must  go  and  bathe  in 
the  Ganges  for  the  purpose  of  purification ;  and  yet 
God  has  been  pleased  to  call  me,  not  merely  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  gospel,  but  to  the  high  office  of  teach¬ 
ing  it  to  others.  My  friends,  do  you  know  the  reason 
of  God’s  conduct]  It  is  this:  if  God  had  selected  one 
of  you  learned  Brahmins,  and  made  you  the  preacher, 
when  you  were  successful  in  making  converts,  by¬ 
standers  would  have  said  it  was  the  amazing  learning 
of  the  Brahmin,  and  his  great  weight  of  character,  that 
w'ere  the  cause;  but  now,  when  any  one  is  convinced 
by  my  instrumentality,  no  one  thinks  of  ascribing  any 
of  the  praise  to  me ;  and  God,  as  is  his  due,  has  all  the 
glory.” 


v.  3. — Every  one  that  sweareth  shall  be  cut 
off  as  on  that  side. 

Three  soldiers  passing  through  a  wood,  a  storm  of 
thunder  and  lightning  came  on.  One  of  the  soldiers, 
to  show  his  contempt  of  God  and  his  judgments,  began 
to  swear,  when  a  large  tree,  torn  up  by  the  fury  of  the 
tempest,  fell  upon  him  and  crushed  him  to  pieces. 


ZECHARIAH  VII. 


239 


vi.  13. — He  shall  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord  : 
and  he  shall  bear  the  glory,  and  shall  sit  and  rule 
upon  his  throne ;  and  he  shall  be  a  priest  upon 
his  throne,  and  the  counsel  of  peace  shall  be  be¬ 
tween  them  both. 

“In  the  afternoon,” says  Toplady,  in  his  Diary,  “call¬ 
ed  on  William  Perry  of  Southertown.  Our  discourse 
happened  to  take  a  serious  turn.  Among  other  subjects, 
we  spoke  concerning  the  divinity  of  the  ever-blessed 
Son  of  God.  I  could  scarce  help  smiling,  at  the  same 
time  that  I  heartily  applauded  the  honest  zeal  of  my 
well-meaning  parishioner: — ‘Let  any  man,’  said  he, 
‘  but  search  the  Scriptures,  and  if  he  does  not  find  that 
Christ,  as  a  divine  person,  subsisted,  not  only  previous 
to  his  birth  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  but  from  everlasting,  I 
will  lose  my  head.’  This  brought  to  my  mind  that  just 
observation  of  the  late  excellent  Mr.  Hervey,  who, 
speaking  of  Christ’s  atonement,  says,  ‘  Ask  any  of  your 
serious  tenants,  what  ideas  arise  in  their  minds  upon  a 
perusal  of  the  fore-mentioned  texts  1  I  dare  venture 
that,  artless  and  unimproved  as  their  understandings 
are,  they  will  not  hesitate  for  an  answer.  They  will 
neither  complain  of  obscurity,  nor  ask  the  assistance 
of  learning,  but  will  immediately  discern,  in  all  these 
passages,  a  gracious  Redeemer  suffering  in  their  stead; 
and  by  his  bitter  but  expiatory  passion,  procuring  the 
pardon  of  their  sins.  Nay,  farther,  as  they  are  not  ac¬ 
customed  to  the  finesse  of  criticism,  I  apprehend  they 
will  be  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  it  is  possible  to  un- 
derstand  such  passages  in  any  other  sense.’  ” 

vii.  12. — They  made  their  hearts  as  an  adamant- 
stone,  lest  they  should  hear  the  law,  and  the 
words  which  the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sent  in  his 
Spirit  by  the  former  prophets. 

Bishop  Massillon,  in  the  first  sermon  he  ever  preach¬ 
ed,  found  the  whole  audience,  upon  his  getting  into 
the  pulpit,  in  a  disposition  no  way  favourable  to  his  in 


240 


ZECHARIAH  VIII. 


f 

tentions.  Their  nods,  whispers,  or  drowsy  behaviour, 
showed  him  that  there  was  no  great  profit  to  be  ex¬ 
pected  from  his  sowing  in  a  soil  so  improper.  How¬ 
ever,  he  soon  changed  the  disposition  of  his  audience 
by  his  manney,  of  beginning.  “  If,”  says  he,  “  a  cause, 
the  most\ important  that  could  be  conceived,  were 
to  be  trial  at  the  bar  before  qualified  judges;  if 
this  cause*  interested  ourselves  in  particular;  if  the 
eyes  of  the^whole  kingdom  were  fixed  upon  the  event; 
if  the  most  eminent  counsel  were  employed  on  both 
sides ;  and  if  we  had  heard  from  our  infancy  of  this  yet 
undetermined  trial, — would  you  not  all  sit  with  due  at¬ 
tention,  and  warm  expectation,  to  the  pleadings  on  each 
side  1  Would  not  all  your  hopes  and  fears  be,  hinged 
on  the  final  decision  1  And  yet,  let  me  tell  fbu,  you 
have  this  moment  a  cause,  where  not  dtre»«ftatio«Ffl)ut 
all  the  world  are  spectators;  tried  not  before  ja  fallible 
tribunal,  but  the  awful  throne  of  heaven,  where  not 
your  temporal  and  transitory  interests  are  tne  subject 
of  debate,  but  your  eternal  happiness  or  misery;  where 
the  cause  is  still  undetermined,  but,  perhaps,  the  very 
moment  I  am  speakiqg  may  fix  the  irrevocable  decree 
that  shall  last  for  evet>  and  yet,  notwithstanding  all 
this,  you  can  hardly  sirvdth  patience  to  hear  the  tidings 
of  your  own  salvation.  *4  plead  the  cause  of  heaven, 
and  yet  I  am  scarcely  attended  to.” 

viii.  16. — Speak  ye  every  man  the  truth  to  his 
neighbour. 

“Some  time  ago,”  says  a  teacher,  “I  called  upon  the 
mother  of  one  of  my  scholars,  to  inquire  the  reason  of 
her  son’s  absence  from  school:  she  told  me  that  he 
had  lately  got  a  situation,  and  promised  that  he  should 
attend  more  regularly  in  future.  She  was  acquainted 
with  the  parents  of  another  of  my  scholars,  and  as  we 
were  conversing  about  her  own  boy,  she  said  that  she 
hoped  he  would  be  as  good  a  boy  as  his  school-fellow 
was ;  for,  added  she,  ‘  his  mother  has  told  me  that  she 
never  knew  him  tell  a  lie  in  his  life.’  I  knew  the  mas¬ 
ter  and  mistress  with  whom  this  same  boy  went  to  live, 
and  they  told  me,  that  though  he  was  not  quite  so  ac- 


ZECHARIAH  X. 


241 


tive  as  they  could  wish,  yet  they  liked  him  for  one 
thing  particularly,  which  was,  he  always  told  the  truth ; 
even  when  he  had  done  any  thing  amiss,  he  never 
tried  to  conceal  it  by  telling  a  falsehood.” 

ix.  10. — He  shall  speak  peace  unto  the  heathen  ; 
and  his  dominion  shall  be  from  sea  even  to  sea, 
and  from  the  river  even  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

The  late  Mr.  John  Croumbie  of  Haddington,  some 
time  before  his  death,  calling  on  one  of  his  customers, 
his  friend  said  unto  him,  “  I  am  sure,  Mr.  Croumbie, 
you  need  not  care  for  business.”  He  replied,  “It  is 

true,  Mrs - ,  but  if  I  were  to  give  over  business,  I 

would  not  be  so  able  to  assist  the  various  societies  that 
are  formed  for  diffusing  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel 
through  the  world.”  The  same  excellent  person,  in  his 
last  illness,  after  expressing  his  surprise  that  some 
Christians  kept  back  from  the  support  of  these  institu¬ 
tions,  said,  with  peculiar  emphasis,  “  0  how  I  pity  the 
poor  heathen,  who  have  nothing  to  support  their  minds 
in  the  prospect  of  eternity!”  His  feelings  were  evi¬ 
dently  excited  by  his  own  situation,  and  a  conviction 
of  the  misery  he  would  feel,  if  his  mind  had  not  been 
supported  by  the  gospel  in  the  near  prospect  of  enter¬ 
ing  into  an  eternal  state. 

x.  2. — The  diviners  have  seen  a  lie. 

A  reformed  gipsy,  making  a  visit  to  a  parish  in 
which  one  of  her  children  was  born,  near  Basingstoke, 
entered  the  cottage  of  an  old  couple  who  sold  fruit,  &c. 
Tea  being  proposed,  the  old  woman  expressed  her  sur¬ 
prise  that  she  had  not  seen  her  visitor  for  so  long  a 
time,  saying  she  was  glad  she  was  come,  as  she  wanted 
to  tell  her  many  things,  meaning  future  events.  She 
mentioned  a  great  deal  that  another  gipsy  woman  had 
told  her;  on  which  the  reformed  one  exclaimed  — 
“Don’t  believe  her,  dame.  It  is  all  lies.  She  knows 
no  more  about  it  than  you  do.  If  you  trust  to  what  she 
says,  you  will  be  deceived.”  The  old  woman  was  still 
more  surprised,  and  asked  how  she,  who  had  so  often 

21 


242 


ZECHARIAH  XII. 


told  their  fortunes,  and  had  promised  them  such  good 
luck,  could  be  so  much  altered  1  The  woman,  taking 
her  Testament  from  her  bosom,  replied,  “  I  have  learn¬ 
ed  from  this  blessed  book,  and  from  my  kind  friends, 

‘  that  all  liars  shall  have  their  portion  in  the  lake  that 
burneth  with  brimstone  and  fire;’  and  rather  than  tell 
fortunes  again,  I  would  starve.” 

xi.  8. — There  shepherds  also  I  cut  off  in  one 
month. 

A  clergyman  was  spending  an  evening, — not  in  his 
closet,  wrestling  with  God  in  prayer, — not  in  his  study, 
searching  the  Scriptures,  and  meditating  on  divine 
truth,  with  the  view  of  being  prepared  for  public  use¬ 
fulness, — nor  in  pastoral  visits  to  the  flock  under  his 
care — but  at  the  card-table !  He  left  the  room  for  a 
few  moments,  desiring  his  wife  to  deal  his  cards  till 
his  return.  This  she  had  done;  but  he  did  not  come 
back.  The  cards  waited,  the  conversation  was  kept 
up,  still  he  returned  not.  At  length,  surprised  at  his 
absence,  his  wife  withdrew  to  seek  hijn.  She  found 
him  in  his  chamber  a  lifeless  corpse !  It  is  observ¬ 
able,  that  within  a  very  few  years,  this  was  the  third 
character  (clerical,  it  is  presumed,)  in  the  same  neigh¬ 
bourhood,  who  had  been  suddenly  taken  from  the  plea¬ 
sures  of  a  card-table  to  the  bar  of  God  ! 

xii.  1. — The  Lord — which  formeth  the  spirit 
of  man  within  him. 

“At  a  ^catechizing  of  one  of  the  schools,”  says  a  mis¬ 
sionary  in  India,  “a  Brahmin  interrupted  us,  by  saying 
that  the  spirit  of  man  and  the  Spirit  of  God  were  one. 
In  order  to  show  him  the  absurdity  of  such  a  declara¬ 
tion,  we  called  upon  the  boys  to  refute  it,  by  telling  us 
the  difference  between  the  spirit  of  man  and  God. 
They  readily  gave  the  following  answer: — ‘The  spirit 
of  man  is  created — God  is  its  Creator :  the  spirit  of 
man  is  full  of  sin — God  is  a  pure  Spirit:  the  spirit  of 
man  is  subject  to  grief — God  is  infinitely  blessed,  and 


MALACHI  I. 


243 


incapable  of  suffering :  these  two  spirits,  therefore,’  re¬ 
plied  the  boys,  ‘  can  never  be  one.’  ” 

xiii.  9. — I  will  bring  the  third  part  through  the 
fire,  and  will  refine  them  as  silver  is  refined. 

Sarah  Howard,  a  poor  old  widow,  who  had  been  bed¬ 
ridden  fourteen  years,  when  visited  by  her  minister, 
thus  spoke  of  her  afflictions  : — “  I  •can  set  to  my  seal 
that  the  Lord  has  chastened  me  sore,  but  he  hath  not 
given  me  over  unto  death.  I  have  been  chastened  in 
my  person,  and  am  quite  helpless,  by  long  and  severe 
illness ;  I  have  been  chastened  in  my  circumstances 
ever  since  I  was  left  a  widow:  yes,  I  know  what  op¬ 
pressing  a  widow,  what  bad  debts  and  hard  creditors 
are:  I  have  been  chastened  in  my  family,  by  a  son, 
whom  I  was  doatingly  fond  of,  running  away  and  going 
to  sea.  Besides  all  these,  I  have  been  chastened  in 
mind,  ‘walking  in  darkness  and  having  no  light;’  yet, 
after  all,  I  trust  I  can  say  with  David,  ‘  Before  I  was 
afflicted  I  went  astray,  but  now  I  have  kept  thy  word. 
And  I  hope  I  can  say  that  I  am  now  returned  to  the 
Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls.” 

xiv.  7. — At  evening  time  it  shall  be  light. 

Mr.  Robert  Glover,  one  of  the  English  martyrs,  a 
little  before  his  death,  had  lost  the  sense  of  God’s  fa¬ 
vour,  which  occasioned  great  heaviness  and  grief;  but 
when  he  came  within  sight  of  the  stake  at  which  he 
was  to  suffer,  he  experienced  such  abundant  comfort 
and  heavenly  joy,  that,  clapping  his  hands  together,  he 
cried  out,  “  He  is  come,  he  is  come  !”  and  died  trium¬ 
phantly. 


— * - 

MALACHI. 

Chap.  i.  13. — Ye  said  also,  Behold,  what  a  wea¬ 
riness  is  it ! 


244 


MALACHI  II. 


One  Sabbath  morning,  a  minister  in  Wakefield  had 
not  proceeded  far  in  his  discourse,  when  he  observed 
an  individual  in  a  pew  just  before  him  rise  from  his 
seat,  and  turn  round  to  look  at  the  clock  in  the  front  of 
the  gallery,  as  if  the  service  was  a  weariness  to  him. 
The  unseemly  act  called  forth  the  following  rebuke  : — 
“A  remarkable  change,”  said  the  speaker,  “  has  taken 
place  among  the  people  of  this  country  in  regard  to  the 
public  service  of  religion.  Our  forefathers  put  their 
clocks  on  the  outside  of  their  places  of  worship,  that 
they  might  not  be  too  late  in  their  attendance.  We 
have  transferred  them  to  the  inside  of  the  house  of 
God,  lest  we  should  stay  too  long  in  the  service.  A 
sad  and  ominous  change  !” 

ii.  14. — The  Lord  hath  been  witness  between 
thee  and  the  wife  of  thy  youth,  against  whom  thou 
hast  dealt  treacherously  :  yet  is  she  thy  companion, 
and  the  wife  of  thy  covenant. 

“I  was  called,”  says  the  Rev.  Richard  Cecil,  “to 
visit  a  woman  whose  mind  was  disordered;  and,  on 
my  observing  that  it  was  a  case  which  required  the  as¬ 
sistance  of  a  physician  rather  than  that  of  a  clergyman, 
her  husband  replied,  ‘  sir,  we  sent  to  you,  because  it  is  a 
religious  case ;  her  mind  has  been  injured  by  constantly 
reading  the  Bible.’ — I  have  known  many  instances, 
said  I,  of  persons  brought  to  their  senses  by  reading 
the  Bible;  but  it  is  possible  that  too  intense  an  appli¬ 
cation  to  that,  as  well  as  to  any  other  subject,  may 
have  disordered  your  wife.  ‘There  is  every  proof  of 
it,’  said  he;  and  was  proceeding  to  multiply  his  proofs, 
till  his  brother  interrupted  him  by  thus  addressing  me: 
— ‘  Sir,  I  have  no  longer  patience  to  stand  by  and  see  you 
so  imposed  on.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  this  :  My 
brother  has  forsaken  his  wife,  and  been  long  connected 
with  a  loose  woman.  He  had  the  best  of  wives  in  her, 
and  one  who  was  strongly  attached  to  him ;  but  she  has 
seen  his  heart  and  property  given  to  another,  and,  in 
her  solitude  and  distress,  went  to  the  Bible  as  the  only 
consolation  left  her.  Her  health  and  spirits  at  last 


MALACHI  IV. 


245 


sunk  under  her  troubles,  and  there  she  lies  distracted, 
not  from  reading  her  Bible,  but  from  the  infidelity  and 
cruelty  of  her  husband.’ — Does  the  reader  wish  to 
know  what  reply  the  husband  made  to  this  1 — He  made 
no  reply  at  all;  but  left  the  room  with  confusion  of 
face !” 


iii.  3. — He  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of 
silver. 

A  short  time  ago,  there  were  a  few  ladies  in  Dublin 
who  met  together  to  read  the  Scriptures  and  converse 
upon  them.  When  reading  the  third  chapter  of  Mala- 
chi,  one  of  the  ladies  gave  it  as  her  opinion  that  the 
fuller’s  soap  and  the  refiner  of  silver  were  only  the 
same  image,  intended  to  convey  the  same  view  of  the 
sanctifying  influences  of  the  grace  of  Christ.  “No,” 
said  another,  “they  are  not  just  the  same  image:  there 
is  something  remarkable  in  the  expression  in  the  third 
verse,  ‘  He  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver.’  ” 
They  all  said  that  possibly  it  might  be  so.  This  lady 
was  to  call  on  a  silversmith,  and  promised  to  report  to 
them  what  he  said  on  the  subject.  She  went,  without 
telling  him  the  object  of  her  errand,  and  begged  to 
know  the  process  of  refining  silver,  which  he  fully  de¬ 
scribed  to  her.  “But  do  you  sit,  sir,”  said  she,  “while 
you  are  refining]”  “O  yes,  madam,  I  must  sit  with 
my  eye  steadily  fixed  on  the  furnace,  since  if  the  silver 
remain  too  long  it  is  sure  to  be  injured.”  “And  how 
do  you  know  when  it  is  sufficiently  refined,  sirl” 
“Whenever  I  see  my  own  image  reflected  in  it,  I  know 
the  process  is  completed.”  She  at  once  saw  the  beauty 
and  the  comfort  too  of  the  expression,  “he  shall  sit  as 
a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver.”  Christ  sees  it  needful 
to  put  his  children  into  the  furnace,  but  he  is  seated  by 
the  side  of  it.  His  eye  is  steadily  intent  on  the  work 
of  purifying,  and  his  wisdom  and  love  are  engaged  to 
do  all  in  the  best  manner  for  them.  Their  trials  do  not 
come  at  random ;  the  very  hairs  of  their  head  are  all 
numbered. 

iv.  2. — Unto  you  that  fear  my  name  shall  the 


246 


MALACHI  IV. 


Sun  of  Righteousness  arise  with  healing  in  his 
wings. 

Kaiarnack,  the  first  Greenland  covert  of  the  Mora¬ 
vian  missionaries,  had  a  peculiar  felicity  in  communi¬ 
cating  instruction  to  the  savages,  and  could  illustrate 
divine  truths  to  them  better  than  they,  introducing  strik¬ 
ing  remarks  and  profitable  observations,  which  could 
not  easily  have  been  done  by  his  teachers,  while  his 
exemplary  walk  gave  force  to  his  words.  Once  when 
invited  to  a  sun-dance,  “I  have  now,”  answered  he, 
“another  kind  of  joy,  for  another  Sun,  Jesus,  has  ari¬ 
sen  on  my  heart and  then  explained  to  them  the  ori¬ 
gin  and  nature  of  his  joy,  in  a  manner  that  silenced 
and  amazed  them. 


THE  END. 


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